but--if only he hadn't decided on groceries! "Peters' Grocery
Store!" Missy thought of jousting, of hawking, of harping, customs
which noble gentlemen used to follow, and sighed.

But Raleigh, unaware that his suit had been lost before it started,
accompanied them all home. "All" because the dark and imperiously
handsome young man went along, too. His name was Mr. Saunders, and
Missy had now learned he was a "travelling man" who came to
Pleasanton to sell Uncle Charlie merchandise; he was also quite a
friend of the family's, she gathered, and visited them at the house.

When they reached home, Mr. Saunders suggested stopping in a minute
to see how Uncle Charlie was. However, Uncle Charlie, it turned out,
was already in bed.

"But you needn't go yet, anyway," said Aunt Isabel. "It's heavenly
out here on the porch."

"Doesn't the hour wax late?" demurred Mr. Saunders. "Wax late!"--
What quaint, delightful language he used!

"Oh, it's still early. Stay a while, and help shake off the
atmosphere of the festival--those festivals bore me to death!"

Odd how women can act one way while they're feeling another way!
Missy had supposed, at the festival, that Aunt Isabel was having a
particularly enjoyable time.

"Stay and let's have some music," Aunt Isabel went on. "You left
your ukelele here last week."