“Do you really think so, Ebeneezer? I was just thinking how worn and aged I had grown since I started on this tiresome tour.”
“Not a bit! Not a bit, Marguerite! I’m the only one that looks worn and aged. If we-all didn’t know better, you and Dodo could pass for sisters, all right. I wonder you never thought of lettin’ her go visitin’ for a season, or so, just to see if folks at home would credit you with havin’ such a grown-up gal,” continued the wily little man.
“It does seem too bad, doesn’t it, that Dodo really advertises my age to the public. I know I look very young to have such a big girl, but I try to have society people understand that she looks much older than she is. Still, I don’t know but you are right.” Mrs. Alexander mused silently over her husband’s remark, after she had had her say. Mr. Alexander watched quietly and waited for her to make the next move in this game.
“I’ll have to try your plan out, when we get back to some fashionable place in the East, Ebeneezer,” finally said Mrs. Alexander. “Every one in your party knows me here, and even Algy would laugh if he heard I was trying to play a joke on the public by passing as Dodo’s sister instead of her mother.”
“I’ll tell you what you might do, Marguerite,—just to try and get your hand into the game before we-all reach Grand Canyon, which is a fearful high-toned place, you know. That El Tovar Hotel is one of the swellest houses in the country, and folks dress to beat the band. Now, I’ll strike a bargain with you, dearie, if you want to have some fun by posing as a young lady, heartfree and ready for a beau, eh?”
Mr. Alexander’s interested smile and his good-natured offer would have hoodwinked a wiser person than his wife. Being so willing a victim to blandishments, Mrs. Alexander was ready for the proposition instantly.
“What bargain do you want to make? I’ll agree to anything that doesn’t annoy me,” returned she, eagerly.
“Why, it’s this. That you don’t let on Dodo and me are your husband and daughter until after we leave Arizony. I’ll make believe that Dodo’s and my name is Ammerman—see. You hang on to Alexander, and pose as a flapper, if you like, with Dodo and the other gals your chums. Then I’ll put Dalken wise, to play up as amateur sweetheart, and Fuzzy must be your steady company. That makes a fine little comedy, I say, and we’ll see if folks swallow the bait. I’m sure Dalken and Fuzzier will enjoy the joke as much as you will. The girls are always out for a lark, and that leaves Jack and Mrs. Courtney to fix. But, then, Jack will see the fun to be had out of the play, and Mrs. Courtney doesn’t count any in this plan.”
“Oh, Ebeneezer!” cried Mrs. Alexander delightedly clapping her beringed hands. “It would be too funny for anything! I can just see myself with two admiring lovers following around after me. If you think the others will see what a joke it will be, I’ll play the star part until we leave Grand Canyon. What a lot of romantic tête-à-têtes we can have in that lovely resort!”
Her husband grunted silently to himself. But he could not afford to lose, now that he had won thus far, so he hid his disgust at his wife’s social aspirations and her yearning for a vanished youth, and he now made known what she must do for him to clinch the bargain.