Peter assented heartily, but with a suffocating gesture removed his coat, so Junior followed his example. Mickey cut short something about "extreme heat" on the lips of Mrs. Harding by indicating the door, and opening it. He quickly closed it after her, advancing to Peaches. "Lily, this is the nice lady I was telling you of who has got the bird singing and the flower-fields----" he began. Peaches drew back, her eyes wide with wonder and excitement, but her mind followed Mickey's lead, for she shocked his sense of propriety by adding: "and the good red berries." But Mrs. Harding came from an environment where to have "good red berries," spicy smoked ham, fat chickens and golden loaves constituted a first test of efficiency. To have her red berries appreciated did not offend her. If Peaches had said "the sweetest, biggest red berries in Noble Country," the woman would have been delighted, because that was her private opinion, but she was not so certain that corroboration was unpleasant. She advanced, gazing at the child unconsciously gasping the stifling air. She took one hurried glance at the room in its scrupulous bareness, with waves of heat pouring in the open window, and bent over Peaches. "Won't you come out of this awful heat quickly, and let us carry you away to a cool, shady place? Dear little girl, don't you want to come?" she questioned. "Is Mickey coming too?" asked Peaches. "Of course Mickey is coming too!" said the lady. "Will he hold me?" "He will if you want him to," said Mrs. Harding, "but Peter is so much bigger, it wouldn't tire him a mite." Mickey shifted on his feet and gazed at Peaches; as her eyes sought his, the message he telegraphed her was so plain that she caught it right. "Mickey is just awful strong," she said. "I'll go if he'll hold me. But I want to _see_ Peter! I _like_ Peter!" "Why you darling!" cried the nice lady. "And I like Junior, that Mickey told me about, and your nice little girl that I mustn't ever say no sw----" Mickey promptly applied the flat of his hand to the lips of the astonished child. "And you like the little girl and the fat toddly baby----" he prompted. "Yes," agreed Peaches enthusiastically, twisting away her head, "and I like the milk and the meat--gee, I like the _meat_, only Mickey wouldn't give me but a tiny speck 'til he asked the Sunshine Nurse Lady." "You blessed child!" cried Nancy Harding. "Call Peter quickly!" Mickey opened the door and signalled Peter and Junior. "She likes you. She asked for you. You can both come at once," he announced, holding the door at a narrow crack until they reached it, both red faced, dripping, and fanning with their hats. Peter gasped for air. "My God! Has any living child been cooped in this all day?" he roared. "Get her out! Get her out quick! Get her out first and talk afterward. This will give her scarlet fever!"