"Luck! You've both got it. She's the best girl in the world, and
you're--" Adoree hesitated, and continued to stare, round-eyed. "I
didn't think you'd--I didn't think she'd--I don't know what I thought
or didn't think. But--Jimminy! MARRIED!" When Lorelei led her into the
bedroom to lay off her wraps the thunderstruck young woman had more
nearly recovered herself. "Why, he's worth millions," she exclaimed, in
a whisper--"BILLIONS! I don't know how to talk to him--or you, for that
matter. Shall I call you 'my Lady' or 'your Honor,' or--"
"You knew how to talk to him that night of the supper."
"And to think you married him after what hap--I'm going to slap the
very first millionaire _I_ meet--maybe he'll propose to me." She was
suddenly dismayed. "Why, I can't afford to buy YOU a
wedding-gift--you'll expect a diamond sunburst or a set of sea-otter. I
didn't dress for dinner either; I suppose I should have worn the crown
jools."
"You're going to wear an apron and help me scorch the dinner," Lorelei
laughed.
"You--COOKING, with a billionaire husband!" Adoree gasped. "Am I
dreaming? Why don't you dine aboard his yacht, or--buy the Plaza and
have dinner served in the lobby? You COOKING! Why, you're going to have
automobiles to match your dresses, and chateaux in France, and
servants, and stables of polo-ponies, and a Long Island estate, and a
hunting-lodge, and--and thousands of gowns, and a maid to put 'em on.
She'll do it, too--when you're not looking." Miss Demorest paused,
dazzled by the splendor of her own imaginings. "YOU! COOKING! Stop
fidgeting and let me kiss you. There!"
As Lorelei explained the reasons for to-night's program, Adoree saw for
the first time the weariness in her friend's eyes, the pallor of her
cheeks, the tremulous droop of her lower lip. Seizing Lorelei by the
shoulders, she held her off as the target for a searching gaze.
"Tell me, did they MAKE you marry him?" she inquired, fiercely. It was
plain to whom she referred.
"No."
"Whew! I'm glad to hear that. You love him, don't you?"
The answer came readily enough, and the blue eyes did not flinch, but
the smile was a trifle fixed and the cheeks remained colorless.
"Why, of course. He's very nice."
"Lorelei!" Miss Demorest's fingers tightened; her voice was tragic, but
she had no chance to say more, for Bob called just then from the
living-room:
"Hurry back, girls. There's something burning, and I can't find the
emergency brake."
When Adoree finally came forth in one of Lorelei's aprons--really a
fetching garment, more like a house dress than an apron--Bob told her
whom they were expecting as the other guest.
She paused with a bread-knife upraised.
"That--VIPER?" she cried.
"Campbell isn't a viper; he's a cricket--a dramatic cricket," declared
Bob.
Adoree began to undo the buttons at her back, but Bob seized her hands.
"Let go. I'll blow up if I see that creature," she exclaimed, in a kind
of subdued shout.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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