“Oh, Reggie, you ridiculous old dear,” cried Mabel, flinging an arm about his neck and effectually choking off the last part of his sentence. “Don’t be so absurd, honey. Don’t you know we couldn’t have any fun at all without you?”
If Joe thought this was stretching the truth a bit, he did not say anything. It made Reggie happy, and of course it was fine to have the fellow along. However, he would not have been quite human if he had not wanted Mabel all to himself.
As for Reggie, he was fairly beaming with pleasure.
“I didn’t know you felt quite so strongly!” he cried. “Bah Jove I didn’t, you know.”
“But now you do, and so it’s all settled,” broke in Clara, giving him an affectionate hug in her turn which brought a laughing remonstrance from Jim.
“Look here!” he said. “Seems to me Reggie’s getting altogether too popular around here. If you’re passing that sort of thing around, why neglect me?”
“I shan’t,” said Clara so softly that nobody heard but Jim, and before he could do anything about it she had turned swiftly and was holding out her hand for Joe’s album. “Let me have it, Joe,” she said. She was adorably flushed and no one—except Jim—understood the reason why.
The two girls enthroned themselves on the couch with the album between them while the boys grouped themselves back of it. Over Mabel’s shoulder Joe turned the pages, pointing out the different players as he did so with a word of explanation for each.
“But I want to see the Giant players, Joe,” said Clara.