u were
sleeping like a rock?"

"Well, I believe I was," answered the young woman candidly, "for I was
tired to death, and couldn't understand half the gorilla said."

"It was all my fault for dragging you there, and then leaving you,"
said John, his penitence making him overlook this glaring disrespect
to his hobby and its rider. "But those fellows looked like gentlemen;
and besides, I know who that old man was who sat next me, and I am
sure he would not have let any such trick be played right under his
nose without stopping it."

"You can think what you please," said Marjory, a little crossly, for
her naturally good temper had been severely tried, "but nothing will
ever make me believe it was not those boys."

II.

Some weeks had elapsed since that sorrowful result of praiseworthy
economy. Marjory's feelings had been soothed by a pair of tan-colored
kids, three-buttoned, stitched on the backs, accompanied by a
glove-buttoner and a hug from John. The mention of dyed gloves still
raised a flush on her round cheeks and painful recollections in her
heart, but she was beginning to banish the sore subject from her mind,
and to half smile to herself when she did think of it; for, in spite
of the enormity of the supposed offence, the vision of her remarkable
appearance when John raised her veil before the glass was too much for
her risibles as it grew more and more retrospective. For she was one
of those happy mortals who cannot help seeing a joke, even when it
points their way.

She came down stairs one evening arrayed in her best bib and tucker,
and was speedily joined by John, whose appearance likewise indicated
some approaching festivity--all but his face, which wore a rather
disgusted expression. "What a bore parties are!" said that world-weary
individual from the height of his twenty-third year.

"That depends," answered Marjory with the superior wisdom of eighteen.
"If one meets bright people, they are not a bore. And I'll give you
some advice, Jack: don't always take it for granted that the girls
can only talk gossip and fashions. Take it for granted that they have
at least as much sense as you have, and talk about something worth
while."

"The descent of man, for instance?" suggested John, somewhat
mischievously. "From the interest _you_ take in that, I've no doubt
the rest of the girls would be charmed."

"What is that thing somebody said about the man of one book?" asked
Marjory, looking abstracted.