I said I did not care, but that I would like to have Green, who had lived in the same boarding-house with me in my lean years. At that she put her cup down and said fiercely: "I think I will have Mr. Lite act as best man. The ushers will be Harry Mint, Mr. Mudison, Bobbie Williegilt, and Dewberry Duff. John will give an ushers' dinner for you at the Ticktock Club." "But--" I was about to protest, but even Cupid had not taken the fire from those masterful eyes, and I collapsed. "And your bridesmaids, Pearl?" said Mrs. Radigan, turning to my fiancée. "I would like to have my old school-friend, Mignonette Klapper," said Pearl, groping nervously for her cigarette-case. "Nonsense," said Mrs. Radigan. "Clarissa Mudison will be maid of honor, and the other bridesmaids will be Ethel Bumpschus, Marian Speechless, Pinkey Mint, and Marguerite Lamb. You see I have been expecting this and have made my plans." "When is the wedding to be?" I asked feebly. "In Lent," said Mrs. Radigan, untouched by the covert sarcasm. "Some time after we move into the new house. I want to have the wedding-breakfast there. The wedding will be in St. Edward's, and will be performed by the rector. Of course I'll have some of our Long Island clergy with the Bishop to do some blessing." "Is there nothing that I can do?" said I. "You can look after the police arrangements," said Mrs. Radigan. "It will take about sixty men at the church and as many at the house. Be sure and have some of the new mounted squad if possible." "But Sally--" Pearl began to protest. Her sister cut her short with a sigh. "That will do for the present, dear," she said sweetly. Then she gazed into the depths of her tea just as I had seen Plumstone Smith do at the club. Poor Mrs. Radigan! CHAPTER XV _My Dinner to Miss Pearl Veal_ I gave a delightful little dinner in my rooms the other evening in honor of my fiancée, Miss Pearl Veal. Of course there were some hitches, but they were such as are likely to occur in any similar affair in a bachelor room-hold, so altogether it was a success. The company was limited by the size of my study, but I managed to get together a thoroughly interesting and congenial crowd of people. Radigan could not come, as there was an important meeting of the vestry of St. Edward's to devise ways and means of redecorating the rectory, but J. Madison Mudison took his place at the last minute, after telephoning to Miss Bumpschus that he had been called suddenly out of town and could not go to the opera with them. Mrs. Radigan chaperoned, and, besides Miss Veal, the Countess Poglioso Spinnigini and Mrs. Bobbie Q. Williegilt were there, and with Bobbie Q., Arthur Slaughterblock-Jones, and myself we just had elbow-room at the table.