d spotted the elevator-boy up at Auntie's. Andrew Zink is
his full name, and he's a straight-haired smoke from the West Indies.
We'd exchanged a few confidential comments on Miss Burr, and I'd
discovered she was just about as popular with him as she was with the
rest of us.

"But for to-morrow, Andy," says I, slippin' him a whole half dollar,
"we're goin' to forget it. See? It'll be, 'Oh, yes, Miss Burr.' and
'Certainly, Miss Burr,' all day long, not omitting the little posie
you're goin' to offer her first thing' in the mornin'."

Andy tucks away the half and grins.

"Very well, sir," says he. "It'll be quite a lark, sir."

Next I fixed it up with Mike, the doorman. He'd had a little run-in with
Myra about not gettin' a taxi quite quick enough for her, so I had to
double the ante and explain how this was a scheme Vee was workin'.

"Sure!" says he. "Anything Miss Verona says goes with me. I'll do my
best."

The hard part came, though, when I has to invite Myra to this little
dinner-party I'm supposed to be givin'. Course, it's Auntie's blow, but
she's been primed by Vee to insist that I do the honors. First off, I
was goin' to run up durin' lunch hour and pass it to Cousin Myra in
person; but about eleven o'clock I decides it would be safer to use the
'phone.

"Oh!" says she. "I am to be utilized as a chaperon, am I?"

"Couldn't think of anybody who'd do it better," says I; "but, as a matter
of fact, that ain't the idea. Auntie's going, you see, and I thought
maybe I could induce you to come along, too."

"But I detest hotel dinners," says she.

"Ah, come on! Be a sport!" says I. "Lemme show you what I can pick from
the menu. For one item, there'll be _tripe a la mode de Caen_."

"Then I'll come," says Myra. "But how on earth, young man, did you know
that--"

"Just wait!" says I. "You got a lot of guessin' besides that. I'll call
for you at seven sharp."

So I spent most of my noon hour rustlin' through florist shops to get the
particular kind of red roses I'd been tipped off to find. I located 'em,
though, and bought up the whole stock, sendin' part to the house and
luggin' the rest to the head waiter. While I was at the hotel, too, I
got next to the orchestra leader and gave him the names of some pieces he
was to spring durin' dinner.

After all, though, it was Auntie who turned the cleverest trick. She'd
got real enthusiastic by Wednesday mornin', and what does she do but dash
do