at the same time."

"Good idea! Good idea!" agreed Little Josh.

What Big Josh said to Judith was, "And how do you do, Miss Buck?
Remember you? Of course I remember you, but do you remember me?"

"And how could I forget you when you have given me many a lift on the
road? You never passed me by without picking me up." Judith's manner
was so frank and sweet and she smiled so brightly at Big Josh,
returning his vigorous handshake with a strong, unaffected clasp, that
the good-natured fellow was won over completely.

"Well, well! We've pretty near got the same name," he cried heartily.
"You are Buck and I am Bucknor. I wouldn't be astonished if we had
been the same in the beginning. Either your folks knocked the _nor_
off or my folks stuck it on. Ha! Ha! We may be related for all we
know."

CHAPTER XVI

The Morning After

"All over and paid for!" yawned Colonel Crutcher the morning after the
debut party. "I tell you I couldn't do it every night."

"Neither could I--nor every week, nor every month, nor even every
year," agreed Major Fitch. "But I tell you, Crutcher, it was worth it,
I mean digging in our jeans for the money and getting so tired out and
feeling our age and everything. It was worth it all, just to see our
girl's eyes shining and to prove what she is made of. I tell you she
stood up there and received with as much dignity as Queen Victoria
herself."

The old men were gathered together on the Rye House porch, chairs
tilted back and feet on railing as usual.

"I tell you, she's a thoroughbred, all right," declared Pete Barnes.
"Why, that gal turned down two of the best-looking beaux at the
hop--Jeff Bucknor and that young Harbison--just to sit down an' talk
with me, old Pete Barnes. Jeff Bucknor was sore, too. He up an'
claimed kin with her an' she just gave him the merry ha ha."

"Well, my j'ints are mighty stiff, but I'm proud to have trod a
measure with Miss Judith Buck," said Colonel Crutcher.

"It was worth a lot to see Miss Ann Peyton again, too," said Judge
Middleton. "I heard a good deal of talk on the side about Miss Ann
last night. It seems that the family is getting together on the
subject. The women folks are reading the riot act and simply refusing
to have the old lady visit them any more. Big Josh was shooting off
his lip pretty lively because the women of the family want to send her
to an old ladies' home. I say poor Miss Ann, but at the same time I
can see the other side."