"Then, why have you waited so long to tell me. Where are we to meet her?"
"Well, I didn't know for sure what day you would be here, so I didn't make any definite arrangement. I'm to let her know."
"Oh, Jimmy! Jimmy! You need a guardian, and not a guardian angel, either. You need the other sort. You deserve hours of punishment for your thoughtlessness. Now go right away and send her word that I am here and dying to meet her."
"All right. We'll have lunch here at the Annex. You'll excuse me just a moment, and I'll send her a telegram and ask her to come in."
"Yes, but hurry. You should have told her yesterday. When will you ever learn how to be nice to a girl?"
Jimmy, feeling somehow that he had been guilty of a breach of courtesy that should fill him with remorse, hastened to the telegraph desk and scribbled a message to Lucy. It read:
"Please meet me and Mary at Annex at 2 o'clock."
"Rush that," he said to the operator.
The operator glanced over the message and grinned.
"Certainly, sir," he said. "This sort of a message always goes rush. Wish you luck, sir."