"Why, Rob!" began poor Bruce reproachfully.
And just then Frances came up with her face aglow, and her eyes shining through unshed tears.
"Bruce, Rob!" she murmured. "Lester took me out in the garden and—He said he wanted to celebrate Hester's triumph by getting her a new cousin—He meant me, Rob!"
"Yes, he's been meaning you for some time," said Rob grimly. "What did you say?"
"What could I say?" said Frances simply, "but one thing?"
"Oh, just listen to that!" growled Bruce, and walked away.
Frances looked from his retreating back to Rob's perturbed face. "Rob!" she cried, "what have you done?"
"Nothing, nothing in this wide world!" cried Rob hysterically. "I should like to know why I should do anything? I hope you will be very happy, Frances, and I'm sure you will, because Lester Baldwin is a nice fellow, and if you don't mind marrying him, why you're sure to be happy."
And Rob walked off in the opposite direction from the one Bruce had taken, leaving Frances to accept this dubious congratulation from her oldest friend, and to comfort herself with the reflection which she had often heard her grandmother make, that "heaven was full of days," and that Bruce and Rob would see another dawn.