"The idea of their wanting us to settle all the Duke's debts before the wedding even!" cried Mrs. Radigan with sudden indignation. "Then we should have had to give the Duke five million more, and Pearl was to fix the castle roofs and keep what was left."
"Naturally, I could not afford it," said Pearl smiling.
"Naturally," said Mrs. Radigan firmly. "But, my dear, we did not want to interfere with your happiness. We simply stood ready to buy the Duke if you cared to have him."
"A duke is a duke," said Pearl, "but they come very high."
"And when I think of Ethel Bumpschus," said Mrs. Radigan, holding the paper at arm's length and staring at the photograph of the Oriental beauty, "when I think of her, with her spectacles and her charities, her aged ticket-choppers and her taffy-colored hair, I must say I feel that his Highness got the worst of the bargain."
We dine at the Bumpschus house to-morrow evening. It will be an informal affair, of course, on account of Lent, and I am looking forward with pleasure to seeing Mrs. Radigan congratulating Ethel and wishing the Duke happiness.
Tumbleton Tumm, the Minstrel