CHAPTER XVI

Henrietta sat on the edge of Sally's bed, swinging her little feet, which hardly touched the floor,--she had only to raise the tips and they swung clear,--and she was as smiling, as pretty, as dainty, as inconsequent, and as charming as ever. At least, Sally seemed to find her charming and so, it is to be presumed, did Dick. Sally, with a little smile upon her lips, leaned against the window casing and looked at her. She feasted her eyes; she looked so long and she stared so hard that Henrietta dammed, for a moment, the stream of talk that flowed from her lips and flushed a little, faintly.

"What's the matter, Sally? I know my hair's in a mess. Is there anything wrong with my dress? Have I got a dirty face? I washed it, but if there is a smudge on my nose I think it is the part of a friend to tell me and not let me go out looking like a fright."

Sally shook her head slowly. "There's nothing the matter, Henrietta. I was only thinking what a lucky man Dick is."

The flush on Henrietta's face deepened. "Oh, do you think so, Sally?" she asked softly. "Do you really think so? I was a little bit afraid you didn't approve. And how about me? Don't you think I'm a lucky girl?"

"Very," answered Sally, smiling still. "Dick is everything that's good. He's the one best man for you. But why did you think that I might not approve?"

"We--ll," said Henrietta with some hesitation, bending forward to look at her swinging feet, then looking up at Sally, "I--I went after him in such a barefaced manner, and you knew it." Sally shook her head again. "Oh, yes, you did. It's no use to shake your gory locks at me. You knew I did; the very night of your fire. I don't deny it. I did go after him with all my might and I got him." She spoke triumphantly. "I'm glad I went after him, for--for I never should have got him at all if I had not. I'm proud of it, but I don't advertise it, generally. I confess it to you, but I should deny the fact to anybody else. Wild horses shouldn't drag it out of me. Not ever! And then, Sally, another reason why I was a little afraid you wouldn't approve--" Henrietta hesitated again, stopped, and once more regarded her feet.

"Well?" Sally asked, amused.

"Well." Henrietta looked up and smiled. "To tell the truth, I couldn't believe that you didn't want him yourself. There! It's out. Just a little, Sally."

Sally laughed. "Not even just a little, Henrietta. Dick is a dear friend--he has been that to me always, ever since his kite and Everett's broke my foot--and I hope he always will be; but the idea of falling in love with each other never entered either of our heads. So you may be quite easy in your mind. My heart isn't even bent."

"But you know," Henrietta insisted, "that you could have got him if you had tried as hard as I did."

"I guess not," Sally replied; "not after you appeared, anyway. You needn't distress yourself. I remember that I used to look upon Dick and Everett with adoration, as a little girl. They were my ideals. When they carried me home, after the kite accident, I was in the seventh heaven. But there was nothing, even then. No, Dick is all yours, as far as I am concerned."

Henrietta breathed a sigh. "Well, I'm glad to be sure of it. But, Sally," she continued, with a doubtful glance, as if she were a little afraid of Sally and of what she was about to ask, "how about Everett? Was there ever--?"

Sally laughed again suddenly. "No, there wasn't. Everett never looked at me."

"But, Sally," Henrietta persisted, "it isn't so now. Does he--you aren't engaged, are you, Sally?" she asked softly, glancing up timidly under her long lashes.

Sally seemed to be in haste to reply. "Oh, no," she said. "Oh, no. I am not likely to be. I suppose you mean Everett."

"Yes, I did," returned Henrietta. She showed some surprise. "Why? Is there anybody else?"

"No, oh, no," Sally answered more hastily than before. "There isn't. As far as I can see, I am scheduled to teach for the rest of my life."

"Are you quite sure, Sally?" Henrietta urged. "Isn't there _anybody_? Not even somebody that you wish--"

Sally was getting rather red. "No, no, Henrietta," she said, interrupting. "Now that's enough about my affairs of the heart. It's a little embarrassing to be questioned so closely, dear."

"I'm sure I beg your pardon, Sally," cried Henrietta impulsively. "I didn't mean to be. Now, _I_ am just dying to be questioned closely. Try me."

"I don't know what to ask," said Sally, smiling. "I would if I did."

Henrietta sighed. "You're very disappointing, Sally. If you were really interested you would know." She sighed again. "But, anyway, you'll be what I want you to be at my wedding, won't you?"

"Indeed, I will. I'll be anything you want me to be." She laughed a little. "But I warn you that I shall need coaching. What do I have to do?"

"Nothing much. You'll have all the coaching you need. You know it's going to be at Fox's house. He's going to open it for the occasion."

"Only for the occasion?" Sally spoke coldly; so coldly that her voice did not sound natural. "I rather gathered, from a remark that he made a while ago, that he contemplated matrimony, too."

"Fox get married?" Henrietta was genuinely surprised. "Well, it's news to me. Who's to be my sister-in-law? Did he say?"

Sally shook her head. "I supposed it was probably Margaret Savage."

"Oh!" cried Henrietta. "I hope not." Then she seemed to be ashamed of her outburst and sat, swinging her feet and looking wistfully at Sally. "I had hoped," she observed at last, "that, when Fox's time came, it would be--" She stopped and considered. "I hoped that it would be--not Margaret Savage, Sally."

Sally made no reply.

"Margaret Savage is so--so _empty_, you see," Henrietta went on. "She would not be exhilarating. But I won't say any more about her."

"It isn't really necessary," Sally returned, laughing.

"And the less said the better," Henrietta concluded. "I don't know why, but it reminds me of your Cousin Patty. Dick hasn't told me much of anything," Henrietta lowered her voice. "Do you suppose it is true that she is losing her mind?"

"Did Dick tell you that?" asked Sally, startled.

Henrietta shook her head. "I heard it talked about."

"I have no reason to think so. She gets queerer and more cranky every year. She has changed a good deal since Uncle John died. Poor Patty! She has very little comfort in life--except Charlie." Sally laughed shortly. "I hope she finds him a comfort."

Henrietta did not know what to say. Consequently she said nothing, which was, no doubt, just the right thing.

"Charlie will be home to-morrow," Sally added; then she corrected herself. "I should have said that Charlie is due to-morrow. He may not come."

"Oh, Sally!" Henrietta cried. "What makes you speak so? It--it sounds horrible."

"It's the simple fact, Henrietta."

"Why don't you do something about it? I would."

Sally gave a little shrug. "What would you do? There is nothing to be done. Charlie's a headstrong boy and he seems to have slipped away altogether from mother's control. Patty indulges him and I don't see how I can do anything. If he had really done anything wrong and I knew it, it would be a different matter. I don't know that he has--but," she added in a low voice, "I don't know that he hasn't."

Henrietta chanced to glance at the watch upon her wrist. "Oh, mercy me!" she cried, springing to her feet. "I didn't know it was so late. I've got to meet Dick in five minutes. Good bye, Sally."

Henrietta was gone, running down the stairs. She need not have hurried so, for Dick was late. He was so late that she had become hotly impatient and then angry with him. Indeed, she was just going away, hurt and angry, when Dick appeared, hurrying as if he were pursued by devils and smiling propitiatingly.

"I'm awfully sorry to be so late, Henrietta," he began. "I simply could not get away from those two bores. I came just as soon as I could without throwing them out of the office."

Henrietta's anger was dissolved like a morning mist. "Who was it, Dick?"

"The Carling twins. It took them a long time to say what they wanted to, for you know they still stutter."

"I've never seen them, although I've heard of them. What were they trying to say?"

"Oh, I don't know. To tell the truth, I was so afraid of being late that I didn't pay as much attention as I ought to have."

This confession would have been a great comfort to the Carlings, for they had taken especial pains and made this trip for the sole purpose of seeing Dick. What they had to say concerned Charlie Ladue. It is not to be supposed that they would be so concerned about the acts of Charlie Ladue, if he were the only one. But his acts would involve Sally, sooner or later, and, so long as that was inevitable, it had better be sooner. In fact, the sooner the better. And, each of the Carlings knowing a thing or two, as was to be expected of them, they had had a long deliberation on the subject, only the night before.

"S--s--ssomeb--b--body ought t--to kn--n--now ab--bout it," Harry observed. "I w--w--wouldn't b--bother m--myself ab--b--out wh--wh--what t--that l--l--lemon of a k--kid d--did 'f--f it w--wasn't for S--S--Sally. D--d--don't l--like t--to b--be the one t--to t--tell on h--h--him, b--but wh--wh--who d--does? Wh--wh--who'll we t--tell? Th--that's the q--q--question."

"C--c--can't t--tell S--S--Sally," Horry remarked.

"C--c--course we c--c--can't," Harry replied scornfully. "An--ny f--f--fool'd kn--n--now th--that."

"N--n--nor P--P--Patty," Horry remarked further.

They both grinned. Harry did not think the observation worthy of a reply.

"M--m--might t--tell D--D--Doc--Doc--tor S--S--San--n--damn it. You kn--now."

Harry nodded. He did not care to try the name. They both knew. "N--no," he said.

"D--D--Dick?" The name came from Horry's lips with the force of an explosion.

"D--D--Dick's n--no g--good," Harry replied gloomily. "G--goin' t--to be m--m--married 'n a l--little m--more'n a w--w--week."

They both relapsed into silence.

After some minutes of silence, Horry heaved a sigh. "N--n--no use," he said. "It's D--D--Dick. C--c--can't th--think of an--nybody else. I'm g--g--goin' d--down to--m--m--morrow. C--c--come b--back s--same d--day; 'll--ll--ll y--you go?"

Harry nodded. "'R--r--right," he said. The Carlings were to graduate within a week, which explains their anxiety to get back.

Horry rose. Their deliberations were ended. "Th--that d--d--damned f--f--fool m--m--must ha--ha--have d--dropped m--m--more'n f--f--fif--f--teen hundred 'n n--numbers--s--seven th--th--this y--year. I w--wonder wh--wh--whose?"

Horry's information was surprisingly accurate.

"G--guess it's P--P--Patty's," Harry observed.

Accordingly they went down to see Dick. Their story was shot off at him in little puffs, like a bunch of firecrackers. Dick, being diverted by the manner of telling and being much concerned about his engagement with Henrietta, did not take it all in, perhaps, and if he forgot all about it during the next ten days, he is to be excused.