"You see, Corny's different from other boys, Mr. Bedelle. He's more like a grown-up person. He has a wonderful mind and such an unusual personality. I don't want him to lose it all and be just like every other boy. And some boys, I'm afraid, won't understand him just at first. You will look after him, protect him, won't you?"
"I'd promise you anything," said Skippy recklessly, which is the privilege of sixteen in the presence of twenty-five.
Miss Potterman smiled without surprise and laid her hand gently a moment on his arm in the deadliest of feminine gestures.
"Corny's told me how kind you have been already."
Skippy looked incredulous.
"Indeed he has. Really he's quite fond of you already."
"I say, Sis," said Nuisance at this moment, "hasn't Skippy got a whang-dinger of a room?"
And he approached with the layer cake and the éclairs.
"What a wonderful spread," said Miss Potterman, "but really you have been too extravagant!"
Something in Skippy's sudden look decided Hippo to keep the secret, but he revenged himself on the cake in a way that made his sister exclaim: