"No, I haven't been getting enough air and exercise."
"But, Charlotte! Your thin slippers! Don't you want to call up O'Leary for a taxi? Well, then, you must take my slips, if you can keep them on."
"Why, Aunt Kate, you have little bits of feet! You'd better say if I can get them on!"
Dear Charlotte!
In a sudden gust of affection, of longing for sympathy, Kate seized her wrist in a hot tense hand and whispered: "Wasn't it awful, that Effa put the sweetened whipped cream for the dessert on the tomato soup! I was never so mortified in my entire life!"
"Now I never noticed it at all, Aunt Kate. Don't you worry; everything was simply delicious!"
And Charlotte felt a sudden warm gushing out toward her aunt, a feeling of wanting to Protect, of wanting to be protected.
"Oh, you have an umbrella, Hoagland!"
"Yes, I thought it looked like rain when we started out."
"Well, I guess the gardens need it."
"We'll look for you good people to-morrow night at half past six. You see we're not stylish; just family dinner; we're not going to make company of you."
"Why not?" Joe asked.
Evelyn had felt separated from Joe all evening. But now, together again, they were swelling toward
