“Me,” beamed Hippy. “Reddy was just telling me that he never fully appreciated me until cruel distance separated us. Of course I can’t help feeling touched. It is so seldom that Reddy appreciates anything or any one. He is——”
The confidential group suddenly dissolved in a hurry. Reddy took hold of Hippy’s arm and rushed him down the steps and around the corner of the house in an anything but gentle manner. “There,” he declared, as he returned to the porch alone. “That will teach him that he can’t make pointed remarks about me. I guess he felt ‘touched’ that time.”
“N-o-r-a,” wailed a pathetic voice. “Come and get me. I want to sit on the veranda, too.”
“Promise you’ll be nice to Reddy, or I won’t come after you,” stipulated Nora, making no effort to rise.
“I won’t promise,” came the defiant answer. “I don’t like Reddy. He is a hard-hearted ruffian.”
“Thank you,” sang out Reddy. “Now come back if you dare.”
“I don’t want to come back. I’d rather walk around by myself in the garden.”
Nothing further was heard from Hippy for a time. Conversation on the veranda went on merrily. Apparently no one missed the stout young man. Suddenly a bland voice at Reddy’s elbow said, “Why, good evening, Reddy.” Hippy’s fat face appeared between the lace curtains at the open parlor window. He beamed joyfully at the company, then favored Reddy with a smile so wide and ingratiating that the latter’s fierce expression changed to a reluctant grin. At this hopeful sign Hippy clambered through the window and crowded himself into the swing between Jessica and Anne, who had resumed their seats there. They protested vigorously, then made room for him.
After announcing their engagement and receiving the congratulations of their friends, Tom and Grace had seated themselves on a rustic bench a little apart from the others. Grace’s slim fingers lay within Tom’s strong hand.
“Grace,” he said, bending toward her so that he could look into her eyes, “are you perfectly sure that you love me? Are you quite content to give up your work? You don’t think there will ever come a time when you will be sorry that you chose me instead? It still seems like a dream to me. I can’t believe that you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives together. It’s too much happiness. If you knew how black everything seemed that rainy day when you sent me out of your life——”