This was said as they struck the homeward stride. “Well, you see, Trix,” replied Gloria, “she has some little kink in her mentality, and Jack says she knows she would blurt out the family history, unabridged, first thing.”
“Oh,” an emphatic pause drew out the single syllable until it included a quizzical sentence.
“You see, with Jack’s money,” Gloria quickly defended. But that didn’t explain the fear of publishing the family history. “Really,” she began again lamely, “you would think her fortune was a joke. The way she speaks of it. I wouldn’t wonder but she’ll do some huge thing just to show the girls how mistaken they have been. But that isn’t half as interesting as the coming of Jane!” Trixy’s arm stood the battery of a powerful love squeeze just then.
“How is she coming?”
“Didn’t say, but I hope by auto. I wouldn’t know when to meet her. And let’s hurry, Trix. I’ll have to work until all hours to have a little time off tomorrow.” They both quickened the already lively pace. “And of course,” Gloria rattled on, “I’ll have to tell Jack——Dear me! What shall I tell her?”
“The best yarn you can fix up. Remember that sick people sometimes need poison in medicine and—shall I say good healthy falsehoods are the same sort of mental antidote?”
“I see. Of course, I’ll try to make her mind easy. But you know, Trix, I couldn’t get the woman to say she would wait to hear when Jack might have a free day. She talked so much, so fast, so loud! My ears still tingle.”
“Just tell Jack you fixed it all right——”
“And then set Sam to watch the trains! Trix, if she ever comes what will happen to my essay? I have to retype it tomorrow.”
“Don’t worry, lamb, perhaps she won’t come. I’d offer to watch for her and corral her, if necessary, but I have a test, in physics at that, and I’ve been plugging for nights on the stuff, but somehow I don’t get the big idea.”