"Damn!"
Jennie, quite regardless, eased herself on her two legs again.
"Gee!" she said. "I couldn't have held that pose much longer. In another second I'd have split at the waist!"
Merriam laughed. "Look what you've done," he said.
Jennie caught up a napkin and mopped the face and head.
"Sorry!" she cried sympathetically. "I didn't mean to wet him! There!" and she dropped a light kiss on the cleansed cheek and smiled her rosiest smile at the trussed victim.
Crockett answered Jennie's smile with a glare that might have caused a panic on the Stock Exchange.
It had no very serious effect, however, on Jennie. She shrugged her pretty shoulders and daintily chucked him under the chin.
"That isn't a nice look!" she said.
At this point Margery returned with a package of flash-light powder and began to pour a second little pile on the dust pan.