"I am not interested in aunts."
"Take care! I happen to be very keen on this aunt of mine. If she didn't like you, you might get sent home. Don't be horrid, Hortie. I truly am glad you've come. You must make allowance for my being surprised. I haven't got over it yet. How in the world did you contrive to get away at this season? And what sort of a trip did you have?"
"Swell! I stopped overnight in New York at the Gardeners. Mother wanted me to deliver a birthday cake to Estelle who, you may remember, is the mater's god-daughter. She's a pippin, too. I hadn't seen her since she graduated from Vassar."
Sylvia listened.
She did not need to be told about the Gardeners.
They had visited Horatio's family more than once and rumor had it the elders of both families would be delighted were the young people to make a match of it.
"I'm surprised you did not stay longer in New York," Sylvia observed, gazing reflectively at her white shoe.
"New York wasn't my objective. I came on business, you see."
"Oh!"
This was not so flattering.