"Hermann," simpered Sophie, drooping still more, while her lips trembled with suppressed emotion of some sort.
"How lovely!" sighed Fanny, who was very romantic.
"Tell on, do! Is he handsome?"
"To me the finest man in all the world," confessed Sophie, as she hid her face.
"And you love him?"
"I adore him!" and Sophie clasped her hands so dramatically that the girls were a little startled, yet charmed at this discovery.
"Have you his picture?" asked Di, feeling that she had won her wager now.
"Yes," and pulling out the locket again, Sophie showed in the other side the face of a fine old gentleman who looked very like herself.
"It's your father!" exclaimed Fanny, rolling her blue eyes excitedly. "You are a humbug!" cried Dora. "Then you fibbed about the ring," said Di, crossly.
"Never! It is mamma's betrothal ring; but her finger grew too plump, and when I left home she gave the ring to me as a charm to keep me safe. Ah, ha! I have my little joke as well as you, and the laugh is for me this time." And falling back among the sofa cushions, Sophie enjoyed it as only a gay girl could. Do and Fanny joined her; but Di was much disgusted, and vowed she would discover the secret and keep all the bonbons to herself.