"The place mentioned should have been Brittany, not India, hey, Pen?" said Dick, with a wicked twinkle of the eye.
"Don't," I began, pathetically, as the girls giggled, and Mary added, with mock sympathy, "Hush, boys, and let that sacred sorrow be for ever hidden in Pen's own breast."
"Watch and pray, dear, watch and pray, for I'm sure you have need of both," cried Fan, seeing my rising wrath.
"Put your hands before your face but don't strike, I beg of you," cut in Geordie, trying to be witty.
"It is a sad case, but I think I have a key that will wind up the affair and set all going right," began Dick, still twinkling with fun.
To have him join the enemy was too much for me, because he had always been very careful to avoid that tender point.
"If you say another word, I'll throw the horrid thing into the fire, for I'm sick to death of hearing bad jokes made on it," I cried, feeling a strong desire to shake them all round.
"No doubt; give it to me, and you shall never see or hear of it again. I like old trinkets, and I'll never tell the story of that one, on my honor as a gentleman," said Dick, in a tone that appeased my wrath at once.
"Do you really want it?" I asked, pleased and surprised, yet still a little suspicious of some new joke.
"I do, because, although it will never go again, it will always remind me of some of the happiest hours and minutes of my life, Pen."