"I say, can't you squeeze me in somehow?"
Gertrude unbent and laughed as he sat down between her and Nell.
Sheila Pat, always earnest, trotted gravely at her host's heels till he released her. Even then she watched. He was standing talking to an imposing matron when he felt a sharp little nip on his arm. He looked down and met Sheila Pat's chiding eyes.
"You've spoken to her twice! I would have thought you'd remember her—by her nose!"
The whisper was loud; he muttered a hasty excuse and fled. But he fled in the wrong direction. After him ran Sheila Pat.
"You haven't spoken once to the lady in the bathing dress!"
In her eagerness her voice rose, and several pairs of eyes glanced instinctively across the room to where a lady in a red and white striped silk gown sat amiably looking on, and several people hid smiles.
"Ted isn't a bit nervous," Gertrude Lancaster confided to Nell. "He's quite calm and cool. Now, that poor Cuthbert Pennington who's just been introduced to you is all on wires about it."
Nell looked across to where Ted lounged, talking to an old gentleman.
"Is he convinced he'll win the prize?"