Mac raised a small whirlwind around her with a folded newspaper,
so full of zeal that she had not the heart to chide him again.
“Well done, old fellow. I begin to have hopes of you and will order
you a new dress coat at once, since you are really going in for the
proprieties of life,” said Steve from the music stool, with the
approving nod of one who was a judge of said proprieties. “Now,
Rose, if you will just coach him a little in his small talk, he won’t
make a laughingstock of himself as he did the other night,” added
Steve. “I don’t mean his geological gabble that was bad enough,
but his chat with Emma Curtis was much worse. Tell her, Mac,
and see if she doesn’t think poor Emma had a right to think you a
first-class bore.?
“I don’t see why, when I merely tried to have a little sensible
conversation,” began Mac with reluctance, for he had been
unmercifully chaffed by his cousins, to whom his brother had
betrayed him.
“What did you say? I won’t laugh if I can help it,” said Rose,
curious to hear, for Steve’s eyes were twinkling with fun.
“Well, I knew she was fond of theaters, so I tried that first and got
on pretty well till I began to tell her how they managed those
things in Greece. Most interesting subject, you know??
“Very. Did you give her one of the choruses or a bit of
Agamemnon, as you did when you described it to me?” asked
Rose, keeping sober with difficulty as she recalled that serio-comic
scene.
“Of course not, but I was advising her to read Prometheus when
she gaped behind her fan and began to talk about Phebe. What a
‘nice creature’ she was, ‘kept her place,’ dressed according to her
station, and that sort of twaddle. I suppose it was rather rude, but
being pulled up so short confused me a bit, and I said the first
thing that came into my head, which was that I thought Phebe the
best-dressed woman in the room because she wasn’t all fuss and
feathers like most of the girls.?
“Oh, Mac! That to Emma, who makes it the labor of her life to be
always in the height of fashion and was particularly splendid that
night. What did she say?” cried Rose, full of sympathy for both
parties.
“She bridled and looked daggers at me.?
“And what did you do??
“I bit my tongue and tumbled out of one scrape into another.
Following her example, I changed the subject by talking about the
charity concert for the orphans, and when she gushed about the
‘little darlings,’ I advised her to adopt one and wondered why
young ladies didn’t do that sort of thing, instead of cuddling cats
and lapdogs.?
“Unhappy boy! Her pug is the idol of her life, and she hates
babies,” said Rose.
“More fool she! Well, she got my opinion on the subject, anyway,
and she’s very welcome, for I went on to say that I thought it would
not only be a lovely charity, but excellent training for the time
when they had little darlings of their own. No end of poor things
die through the ignorance of mothers, you know,” added Mac, so
seriously that Rose dared not smile at what went before.
“Imagine Emma trotting round with a pauper baby under her arm
instead of her cherished Toto,” said Steve with an ecstatic twirl on
the stool.
“Did she seem to like your advice, Monsieur Malapropos?” asked
Rose, wishing she had been there.
“No, she gave a little shriek and said, ‘Good gracious, Mr.
Campbell, how droll you are! Take me to Mama, please,’ which I
did with a thankful heart. Catch me setting her pug’s leg again,”
ended Mac with a grim shake of the head.
“Never mind. You were unfortunate in your listener that time.
Don’t think all girls are so foolish. I can show you a dozen sensible
ones who would discuss dress reform and charity with you and
enjoy Greek tragedy if you did the chorus for them as you did for
me,” said Rose consolingly, for Steve would only jeer.