“How about Mary? Suppose we could make her understand? Oh, but that wouldn’t do either,” Gloria hastened to correct. “I promised Jack to tell no one but you. She mentioned Mary’s name but did not include her.”
They were climbing the second hill in Altmount grounds, and the evening was in quite a hurry to finish up its duties, for already shadows were plunging into Night’s canopy.
“I hope poor Jack is asleep,” remarked Gloria. She showed real agitation now, as her task became more complicated.
“She may be asleep, for medicines often have that sort of secondary action. Glo, love, I’m glad I’m here now. It has been rather stupid after the wildly lovely times we had together out in the reckless world,” she explained more fully, with a charming but most unworldly manner characteristic of the real unspoiled girl, “and now,” she continued, “you the little old reliable you that has bewitched me, have precipitated the most alluring episode of all, including pirate’s daughter, hiding gem laden trunks, losing guilty blood stones and surreptitiously rewarding the poor but honest finder with a black jade necklace. Naturally, we’re afraid the necklace is hoodooed, but I’m going to borrow it some day and find out.”
“Glad I was able to inject a little variety into the solitude,” murmured Gloria, “but as far as I am personally concerned, I’d like to thin it out right now. I didn’t count on irate stepmothers shocking snobby school girls into fear of social contamination. There! see how my English has improved?”
“Marvelously! You’ll surely win that prize——”
“And Jack is trying——”
“I know. I’ve been helping her a little——”
“Oh.”
“You don’t mind, Glo? I wouldn’t help her against you. But she’s pitifully weak on spelling, for instance. It’s a strange thing that she should be so low in grade if she has always been—in such affluent circumstances.”