"We are very glad to see you, Mrs. Garnett, and are extremely sorry to have missed any of your visit. You have found us in some disarray from the fact that we are preparing to move and at the same time have just been engaged in having a wedding in the family."
"A wedding! Whose wedding?" The wily Dee had taken her mind off of the disorder in the room and now she felt she could soon win her over to complacency at least. The wetting paled to insignificance beside the wedding.
"Why, our dear friend and chaperone, Miss Cox."
"Your chaperone! Goodness gracious, child! Did she marry your father?"
"Heavens, no!" laughed Dee. "Mr. Bob Gordon is the happy man!"
"Miss Binks did not tell me a word of it," said Mrs. Garnett rather suspiciously.
"No, she did not know about it." "Not know about it? That is strange! Was there any reason for keeping it secret?"
"No especial reason for keeping it secret except that it was to be a very quiet affair and the invited guests included only the most intimate friends. Mabel Binks has a way of getting herself invited by hook or crook, and we just decided not to tell her about the matter."
"How long were they engaged? It seems strange behaviour in a chaperone."
"I tell you what you do, Mrs. Garnett. If you won't mind the informality of a picnic supper, you stay and have supper with us. We will run up and get dressed and be down in a moment and then we will tell you the whole thing, how they got engaged and all about it." And so anxious was my cousin for a bit of news to retail to the ladies on the hotel porch that she actually stayed.