“But that’s not a real name!”
“It’s good enough for me. You gave me it, you know.”
“And—and are you really a duke or something like that?”
Again he laughed.
“You bet I am.”
Her face fell. She regretted his high estate. Cheerio put his lips against her small pink ear, and he kissed it before he whispered what he said was a great secret:
“Hilda, I’ll tell you who I am: Cheerio, Duke of the O Bar O, and you’re the darling Duchess!”
“That’s Jake!” said Hilda.
THE END