it was Fan, so do go on."

"But it wasn't, for she changed her mind and wore a black domino; I
saw her put it on myself. Her Cousin Jack came unexpectedly, and she
thought if she altered her dress and went with him, you wouldn't
know her."

"Who could it have been, Dick?"

"That's the mystery, for, do you know, Bopp proposed to her."

"He didn't!" and Dolly flew up with a startled look that, to adopt a
phrase from his own vocabulary, was "nuts" to her brother.

"Yes he did; I heard him."

"When, where, and how?"

"In one of these flirtation boxes; they dropped the curtain, but I
heard him do it, on my honor I did."

"Persons of honor don't listen at curtains and key-holes. What did
they say?"

"Oh, if it wasn't honorable to listen, it isn't to hear; so I won't
tell, though I could not help knowing it."

"Mercy! don't stop now, or I shall die with curiosity. I dare say I
should have done the same; no one minds at such a place, you know.
But I don't see the joke yet," said Dolly dismally.