I tips Vee the signal for general denial and winks knowin'. But, say,
you can't get by with anything crude on a pair of open-eyed kids like
that.

"Oh, I saw!" announces Jane. "And you do know him, don't you, Vee?"

"Why, I suppose we have met before?" says she, laughin' ripply.
"Haven't we, Torchy?"

"Now that you mention it," says I, "I remember." And we shakes hands
formal.

"Came to see the baby, I hear," says Vee.

"Oh, sure!" says I. "Maybe you could tell me about him first, though,
if we could find a quiet corner."

"Oh, we'll tell you," chimes in Peggy. "We know all about Baby. He
has a tooth!"

"Say," says I, wigglin' away from the pair, "couldn't you go load up
someone else with information, just for ten minutes or so?"

"What for?" says Jane, eyin' me suspicious.

"We'd rather stay here," says Peggy decided.

I catches a humorous twinkle in Vee's gray eyes as she holds out her
hands to the girls. "Listen," says she confidential. "You know those
hermit cookies you're so fond of? Well, Cook made a whole jarful