Channah and that letter! Hang the girl, why hadn't she written? Yet that wasn't all, there was something else making him unquiet, setting up cross currents in these free Wenton days which until recently had seemed a dream not for a dreary time capable of realization. What else beside Channah? Oh, yes, here was the lane where he had seen the huddling mass of blue. Mamie! Undoubtedly, it was that weird girl with the dark eyes putting things out of tune! He didn't like her! There was too much assurance about her.... By Heaven, here she was, sitting demure and watchful on the further side of a sycamore! "Good afternoon, Philip!" "Good afternoon, Miss--er, Miss Daventry!" "Well, if you won't call me Mamie, I can't say I really mind, you know! But I don't think it's at all friendly of you! That I don't! Particularly after----" "I'm fearfully sorry, Mamie! I didn't think you'd really like to, after only meeting yesterday!" "After all, what does that matter with girls and boys like me and you! Won't you just sit down here, or are you going on...?" "Oh, if you'll let me----" "Yes, do! Now what is it is bringing that nasty frown on Philip's forehead! Out with it, he mustn't look so worried or Mamie will think all sorts of things!" "It's about, well, it's about a letter!" "Oh, oh!" said the girl teasingly. "Oh, oh! Tell us all about her! And you do look so young to be carrying on! I said to myself when I first saw you, I said, 'Now there's a young man an innocent girl like me's got to be careful of! I can see it in his eyes, I can'!" She hummed the words of a song. She momentarily forgot her friend as she pursued a phrase along a trilling tremolo. And then, "Oh, yes, where are we! A letter from his little sweetheart! Oh, oh, Philip!" "It isn't!" Philip declared. He explained haltingly the nature of the letter. "Oh, don't worry about that sort of thing on holiday!" enjoined Mamie airily. "_I_ never would, not if my mother were dying of the croup! And if your sister doesn't keep her promises, she's a cat and it's her own look-out! Oh no, no, no, don't let a little thing like that worry you!" "Really, don't talk of her like that! She's a sport! She's not a cat!" "Did I say your sister was a cat? Oh, I didn't mean that, you didn't get me proper. You see it's like this.... Oh, hell! It's not worth bothering about! What was I going to say? Let me see--yes! Don't be afraid of me, Philip, why don't you move up a bit, there's room enough? That's right! Now let's talk about something interesting, not letters and stuff!"