and then
curious eyes were turned on her, sitting near the head. She was enjoying
this immensely, and Froggy Parker was so engrossed with the added
sparkle of her rising color that he forgot to pull out Sally's chair,
and fell into a dim confusion. Amory was on the other side, full of
confidence and vanity, gazing at her in open admiration. He began
directly, and so did Froggy:

"I've heard a lot about you since you wore braids--"

"Wasn't it funny this afternoon--"

Both stopped. Isabelle turned to Amory shyly. Her face was always enough
answer for any one, but she decided to speak.

"How--from whom?"

"From everybody--for all the years since you've been away." She blushed
appropriately. On her right Froggy was _hors de combat_ already,
although he hadn't quite realized it.

"I'll tell you what I remembered about you all these years," Amory
continued. She leaned slightly toward him and looked modestly at the
celery before her. Froggy sighed--he knew Amory, and the situations that
Amory seemed born to handle. He turned to Sally and asked her if she was
going away to school next year. Amory opened with grape-shot.

"I've got an adjective that just fits you." This was one of his favorite
starts--he seldom had a word in mind, but it was a curiosity provoker,
and he could always produce something complimentary if he got in a tight
corner.

"Oh--what?" Isabelle's face was a study in enraptured curiosity.

Amory shook his head.

"I don't know you very well yet."

"Will you tell me--afterward?" she half whispered.

He nodded.

"We'll sit out."

Isabelle nodded.

"Did any one ever tell you, you have keen eyes?" she said.

Amory attempted to make them look even keener. He fancied, but he was
not sure, that her foot had just touched his under the table. But it
might possibly have been only the table leg. It was so hard to tell.
Still it thrilled him. He wondered quickly if there would be any
difficulty in securing the little den up-stairs.

*****

BABES IN THE WOODS

Isabelle and Amory were distinctly not innocent, nor were they
particularly brazen. Moreover, amateur standing had very little value
in the game they were playing, a game that would presumably be her
principal study for years to come. She had begun as he had, with good
looks and an excitable temperament, and the rest was the result of
accessible popular novels and dressing-room conversation culled from a
slightly older set. Isabe