"No," he laughed. "The practicing all led up to this. Did I
come too soon?"

"No," she replied, gravely. "Just in time!"

"I'm glad to be so accurate; I've spent two evenings wanting to
come, Miss Adams, instead of doing what I was doing."

"What was that?"

"Dinners. Large and long dinners. Your fellow-citizens are
immensely hospitable to a newcomer."

"Oh, no," Alice said. "We don't do it for everybody. Didn't you
find yourself charmed?"

"One was a men's dinner," he explained. "Mr. Palmer seemed to
think I ought to be shown to the principal business men."

"What was the other dinner?"

"My cousin Mildred gave it."

"Oh, DID she!" Alice said, sharply, but she recovered herself in
the same instant, and laughed. "She wanted to show you to the
principal business women, I suppose."

"I don't know. At all events, I shouldn't give myself out to be
so much feted by your 'fellow-citizens,' after all, seeing these