"I do wish Aunt Kezia were going out to-night."

Denis pretended to feel faint.

"You, Molly? You, the patent softener of a relative's hard heart?"

Molly blushed and glanced abashed at Ted's amused face.

"Well, for her own sake, anyway," she protested, and dropped her eyes with a giggle over her hypocrisy.

"Ted," Nell said, "here's a penny."

"Thanks awfully."

He took it and dropped it into his pocket.

"It may come in useful some day. One never knows."

"Well?" she said.