Caught between the upper and nether millstones of the raillery of the two girls, Kenneth tried to explain away his embarrassment, but they gave him no peace.
“Let me explain,” he begged. “When I went away you were a scrawny little thing, a regular tomboy and as mischievous as they make them. And now you’re a—you’re—you’re” Jane laughed at his attempt, somewhat lacking in fullness, to say what she had become with the passage of the years.
“Whatever it is you are trying to say, I hope it’s something all right you are calling me—though from your tone I’m not at all sure,” she ended, letting a note of mock concern creep in her voice.
By this time Kenneth had somewhat recovered his composure. He entered into the spirit of play himself by telling her his surprise had been due to his finding her unchanged from the little girl he had once known, but Jane laughed at his ineffectual efforts to answer Mamie’s and her teasing. To change the conversation, he demanded that she tell him all that she had been doing since he saw her last.
“There isn’t much to tell,” she declared. “I went away soon after you did, going to Fisk University, graduated last June, got a position teaching in North Carolina, and am home for the holidays. Next year I want to have enough money to go to Oberlin and finish my music. That’s all there is to my little story. You are the one who has been having all sorts of experiences. I want to hear your story.”
“Mine isn’t much longer,” answered Kenneth. “Four years of medical school. A year’s interneship in New York at Bellevue. Three months in training camps. A year and a half in France. Six months at the Sorbonne. Then New York. Then exams at Atlanta for my licence. Home. And here I am.”
“Don’t you believe him, Jane,” said Mamie.
“That’s just his way of telling it. Ken has had all sorts of exciting experiences, yet he has come home and we can’t get him to talk about a thing except building a practice and a hospital.”
“What do you want me to talk about?” asked Kenneth.
“Paris—school—army life what did you see?—how do you like New York?—is New York as good a place to live in as Paris?”