“Never.”
“What do you call the song Phebe sang with her bird chorus?”
“That was nothing till she put the music to it. But she promised not to tell.”
“She didn't. I suspected, and now I know,” laughed Rose, delighted to have caught him.
Much discomfited, Mac gave poor Keats a fling and, leaning on both elbows, tried to hide his face for it had reddened like that of a modest girl when teased about her lover.
“You needn't look so guilty; it is no sin to write poetry,” said Rose, amused at his confession.
“It's a sin to call that rubbish poetry,” muttered Mac with great scorn.
“It is a greater sin to tell a fib and say you never write it.”
“Reading so much sets one thinking about such things, and every fellow scribbles a little jingle when he is lazy or in love, you know,” explained Mac, looking very guilty.
Rose could not quite understand the change she saw in him till his last words suggested a cause which she knew by experience was apt to inspire young men. Leaning forward again, she asked solemnly, though her eyes danced with fun, “Mac, are you in love?”