manners!"

"What about your tricks against us?"

"Oh, those!" Alice laughed. "We think they're rather cute!"

"Bravo!" he cried, and hammered the ferrule of his stick upon the
pavement.

"What's the applause for?"

"For you. What you said was like running up the black flag to
the masthead."

"Oh, no. It was just a modest little sign in a pretty
flower-bed: 'Gentlemen, beware!'"

"I see I must," he said, gallantly.

"Thanks! But I mean, beware of the whole bloomin' garden!" Then,
picking up a thread that had almost disappeared: "You needn't
think you'll ever find out whether I'm right about Mildred's not
being an exception by asking her," she said. "She won't tell
you: she's not the sort that ever makes a confession."

But Russell had not followed her shift to the former topic.
"'Mildred's not being an exception?'" he said, vaguely.
"I don't----"

"An exception about thinking she could be a wonderful thing on the