I'm introduced reg'lar and formal, and Mr. Robert adds: "A young friend of mine from the office."
"Oh!" says Miss Hampton, liftin' her eyebrows a little.
"I brought him along," blurts out Mr. Robert, "to tell you about how you happened to get the roses."
"Really!" says she. "How considerate of you!"
And if Mr. Robert hadn't been actin' so much like a poor prune he'd have quit that line right there. But on he blunders.
"You see," says he, "I've asked Torchy to explain for me."
"Ye-e-es?" says she, bitin' her upper lip thoughtful and glancin' from one to the other of us. "Then—then you needn't have bothered to come yourself, need you?"
Say, that was something to lean against, wa'n't it? You could almost hear the dull thud as it reached him.
"Oh, I say, Elsa!" he gets out gaspy. "Of course I—I wished to come, too."
"Thank you," says she. "I wasn't sure. And now that you've brought him, may I hear what your young friend has to say, all by myself?"