"Oh, I see. Did you cut it down?"
"No; Louis was there cutting it down when we got there. We didn't let him see us. But at first when we saw him we thought—we thought—maybe—he—he——" I could go no further. I could not voice our apprehensions before the Greens, who knew nothing of our experience of the morning.
"You poor babies! Why didn't you ask me to attend to it?"
"I wanted to, but Dee said you might think it was silly of us; and then she did not want you to think that maybe Louis was not trustworthy. She felt he needed all the friends he had—not to lose any."
"Loyal old Dee! Now, honey baby, you put your arm around me and I'll put my arm around you, and we will get over to the King Street car and be back to the hotel in a jiffy. The rest of you can walk, if you want to."
None of us wanted to, as we felt some uneasiness about Dee, although she had calmed down to an occasional sob that might pass for a hiccough. We piled on the trolley and were back at the hotel in short order.
The good breeding of the Greens was very marked during this little mix-up. Never once by word or look did they show the slightest curiosity as to what we were talking about. They were kind and courteous and anxious to help Dee have her chill and get over the hysterics, but that was all.
"Hadn't I better get a doctor for Dee?" poor Zebedee inquired, almost distracted, as he always was when one of his girls had anything the matter.
"I really do not think so," said Mrs. Green. "If you will let me take Dee in charge, I am sure I can pull her through. Doctor McLean, at Wellington, complains that I have lessened his practice by taking charge of so many cases where a doctor is not really needed."
"You had better trust her, Tucker; she has healing in her wings." (Professor Green and Zebedee had sealed their rapidly growing friendship by calling each other Green and Tucker.) Tweedles always said that no one ever called their father Mr. Tucker longer than twenty-four hours unless he got to acting Mr. Tuckerish.