excited accents:--"Mellicent, it's Carl Pennock. He wants you to go
auto-riding with him down to the Lake with Katie Moore and that
crowd."

"Mother!" breathed an ecstatic voice.

What followed Mr. Smith did not hear, for a nearer, yet more excited,
voice demanded attention.

"Gee! Carl Pennock!" whispered Benny hoarsely. "Whew! Won't my sister
Bess be mad? She thinks Carl Pennock's the cutest thing going. All the
girls do!"

With a warning "Sh-h!" and an expressive glance toward the hall, Mr.
Smith tried to stop further revelations; but Benny was not to be
silenced.

"They're rich--awful rich--the Pennocks are," he confided still more
huskily. "An' there's a girl--Gussie. She's gone on Fred. He's my
brother, ye know. He's seventeen; an' Bess is mad 'cause she isn't
seventeen, too, so she can go an' play tennis same as Fred does.
She'll be madder 'n ever now, if Mell goes auto-riding with Carl, an'-
-"

"Sh-h!" So imperative were Mr. Smith's voice and gesture this time
that Benny fell back subdued.

At once then became distinctly audible again the voices from the other
room. Mr. Smith, forced to hear in spite of himself, had the air of
one who finds he has abandoned the frying pan for the fire.