"For me, and she didn't buy a single thing for herself," grumbled Laura, untying the cord. "Isn't it just too sweet!" She held up a dish of pale pink glass with a knot of blue forget-me-nots in the corner.
"It's beautiful!" exclaimed Ivy. "I was just going to say that somebody else forgot to buy a single thing for herself, but I see Alene didn't forget her!"
"That little sly piece, and I never noticed her at it!" Laura said, secretly hoping that a certain quaint amber-colored bowl which she had deftly tucked away among Alene's purchases would prove as pleasant a surprise to Alene.
Hugh, coming in to supper just before Laura went home, peeped into the room in time to hear Ivy's laughing remark,
"We should confer upon Sir Mark the title of 'Rescuer-in-Chief to the Happy-Go-Luckys!'"
Hugh, with a hasty nod to the girls, turned away.
"Don't be in such a hurry, Hugh! I've just been telling Ivy how thrilling it was, when just in our moment of despair, Mark Griffin appeared—"
"Like the hero on a stage," interrupted Hugh.
"No, in a skiff," corrected Laura.
"I've no time for rhapsodies now," said Hugh curtly. He turned away with Ivy's voice, "Hear! Hear!" ringing mockingly on the air.