"Dinner is all ready for you, Phil. Aren't you hungry?"
"No, it's too hot to be hungry. Besides, who could eat in this vile atmosphere?"
"But I've got a lovely lettuce for you, and vinegar. Vinegar is always so refreshing, I think, in hot weather. Then there's plenty of cheese, and a bit of beef we had over from yesterday. And—But guess what there is besides."
"Is uncle coming home to dinner?" inquired Phil.
Millie thought that he was ungraciously ignoring her request, and replied in rather a hurt voice—
"No, he said he should not be in till night."
Her brother's next words, however, told her that she had wronged him.
"Well, then, there will be you, and to have you all to myself for half an hour will be as good as twenty dinners, Millie."
There was one noble trait in Phil's character, at any rate, his intense love for his sister. It shone out now from his innermost soul, as looking fondly at her, he tucked her hand under his arm.
"No, but do guess what it is," Millie went on eagerly. "It's something so nice—something you will enjoy. Miss Crawford brought it."