But the Gay Lady shook her head. "Let's just listen," she said.

So we listened. It was worth it. But, after all, I doubt if the Skeptic
heard.




VI

HEPATICA

Here's metal more attractive.
--_Hamlet._


The Gay Lady had gone away for a week and a day. Although four of us
remained, the gap in our number appeared prodigious. The first dinner
without her seemed as slow and dull as a dance without music, in spite
of the fact that we did our best, each one of us, not to act as if
anything were wrong.

When we had escaped from the dining-room to the porch, Lad was the first
to voice his sentiments upon the subject of our drooping spirits. "I
didn't know her being here made such a lot of difference--till she got
away," he said dismally. "There's nobody to laugh, now, when I make a
joke."

"Don't the rest of us laugh at your jokes, son?" inquired the