cut from the fly leaf, but below it was written the name of a young
man whose acquaintance he had made last winter, Robert Deane Reynolds.
Deane was Rob's middle name, so naturally it led to an investigation."

Mr. Pennington looked over at Margaret Elizabeth. "Have I told a
straight story?" he asked.

"There were letters, you know," she prompted.

"Oh, yes. This young man had letters which I could have identified
anywhere."

Mrs. Pennington was interested. She asked questions. That absurd story
about a Candy Wagon was untrue then? But how had Margaret Elizabeth met
this person? She still referred to him as a person. And somehow the
united efforts of Margaret Elizabeth and Mr. Pennington failed to clear
up the mystery, though they did their best.

Even if the Candy Wagon episode was to be regarded as humorous, though
it did not present itself in that light to Mrs. Pennington, how could
Margaret Elizabeth have asked a Candy Man to her Christmas tree?

"But you see, by that time I knew he wasn't real, Aunt Eleanor, and
anyway--"

"Now go slow, Margaret Elizabeth," cautioned her uncle. "At heart you
are a confounded little socialist, but take my advice and keep it to
yourself." He was thinking of what she had said to him only the day
before: "You see, Uncle Gerry, you can't have everything. You have
to choose. And while I like bigness and richness, I like Little Red