"Me! I! I'm it!"
Blake rose so suddenly that his chair upset, whereupon Rilleau, who saw in this abrupt movement a threat, propelled himself fully into view, crying with determination:
"Here! Don't you touch her! She's mine! You take it out of me!"
Blake's answering laugh seemed so out of character that the bridegroom took it as merely a new phase of insanity, and edged in front of his wife protectingly.
"I wanted to come in at first and break the news, but she wouldn't let me," he explained.
"You have a weak heart. You—you mustn't fight!" implored Myra Nell; but Lecompte only shrugged.
[Illustration: "P-PLEASE DON'T KILL YOURSELF, DEAR? I COULDN'T HELP IT">[
"That's all a bluff." Then to Norvin: "I'll admit it was a mean trick, and I guess my heart really might have petered out if she'd married you; but I'm all right now, and you can have satisfaction."
"I don't know whether to be angry or amused at you children," Norvin told them. "Understand, once for all, that our engagement wasn't serious. There have been a lot of mistakes and misunderstandings—that's all. Now tell us how and when this all happened."
"Y-yes!" echoed Bernie, who was still dazed.