"Well, we did have some good times together," Harrigan admitted, with a

glow in his heart. "And I guess after all that I'll go to the ball with

Molly. I don't mind teas like we had at the colonel's, but dinners and

balls I have drawn the line at. I'll take the plunge to-night. There's

always some place for a chap to smoke."

"At the Villa Rosa? I'll be there myself; and any time you are in doubt,

don't be afraid to question me."

"You're in class A," heartily. "But there's one thing that worries

me,--Nora. She's gone up so high, and she's such a wonderful girl, that

all the men in Christendom are hiking after her. And some of 'em.... Well,

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Molly says it isn't good form to wallop a man over here. Why, she went on

her lonesome to India and Japan, with nobody but her maid; and never put

us hep until she landed in Bombay. The men out that way aren't the best.

East of Suez, you know. And that chap yesterday, Herr Rosen. Did you see

the way he hiked by me when I let him in? He took me to be the round

number before one. And he didn't speak a dozen words to any but Nora. Not

that I mind that; but it was something in the way he did it that scratched

me the wrong way. The man who thinks he's going to get Nora by walking

over me, has got a guess coming. Of course, it's meat and drink to Molly

to have sons of grand dukes and kings trailing around. She says it gives

tone."

"Isn't she afraid sometimes?"

"Afraid? I should say not! There's only three things that Molly's afraid

of these days: a spool of thread, a needle, and a button."

Courtlandt laughed frankly. "I really don't think you need worry about

Herr Rosen. He has gone, and he will not come back."

"Say! I'll bet a dollar it was you who shoo'd him off."

"Yes. But it was undoubtedly an impertinence on my part, and I'd rather

you would not disclose my officiousness to Miss Harrigan."

"Piffle! If you knew him you had a perfect right to pass him back his

ticket. Who was he?"

Courtlandt poked at the gravel with his cane.

"One of the big guns?"

Courtlandt nodded.

"So big that he couldn't have married my girl even if he loved her?"

"Yes. As big as that."

Harrigan riffled the leaves of his book. "What do you say to going down to

the hotel and having a game of bazzica, as they call billiards here?"

"Nothing would please me better," said Courtlandt, relieved that Harrigan

did not press him for further revelations.

"Nora is studying a new opera, and Molly-O is ragging the village

dressmaker. It's only half after ten, and we can whack 'em around until

noon. I warn you, I'm something of a shark."




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