He roared with laughter at this sally of his, and Hepburn smiled faintly.
“This poor boy has always had to do the society act, Philip, and he’s fitted for better things. Hope you haven’t any hops up at your house. Have you any hops?”
“Not a hop,” said I.
“Nor a cotillion?”
“Nor a cotillon. In fact, I’m afraid it may be rather dull for one who is accustomed to do something all the time.”
“I’m sure I’ll have a delightful time,” said Hepburn from the second seat. “I’m rather tired. It’ll be a jolly good thing for me.”
“By George, isn’t this a paintable country?” broke in Tom. “If a man could only get the fragrance of this air into his pictures it would be no trouble to get rid of them.”
“Inoculated already,” laughed Ethel.
“Oh, I always get inoculated as soon as I come to this kind of country. I was born on prairie country and I never saw a hill until I was eighteen, and then I wondered how I had lived without ’em.” He turned ’way round. “Pity you don’t paint, Benedict.”
Benedict, on the back seat, said, “Oh, I don’t have to do anything to enjoy this. Just to be alive is enough in air like this. Isn’t it, Alice?”
And Alice agreed with him and the horses bore us higher and higher, slower and slower, and at last we arrived and Ellery and Cherry greeted us.
James came out to relieve the guests of their suit cases and I invited all hands to go to their rooms and remove the evidences of their smoky ride.
When Ethel and Madge had come down from our room I said to Ethel,
“No dressing, I suppose?”
“No, I suppose not,” said she, and there was a little note of regret in her voice.
I went up and washed and put on a cutaway and in a few minutes I came down and walked back and forth on the veranda.
In about a quarter of an hour the three men who were using Ellery’s chamber as a dressing room came down the front stairs. I caught a glimpse of them and lo, two were in Tuxedos, and Hepburn was in full evening clothes.
Quick as a wink, and before they saw me, I whisked around to the back of the house, and finding Ethel in the kitchen, where she was superintending some salad arrangement, I said,
“They’re all dressed. Me to my evening clothes.”
“Good,” said she.
I saw Ellery within calling distance. He was in a sack coat. I hailed him and he came up.
“Don’t want to make ’em feel foolish. They’re all dressed. Run up and put on your Tuxedo or whatever you have. Come into my room to dress and we can help each other.”
He got his clothes and we hastened to my room, where we made as quick changes as we could.
“Funny about Ethel,” said I. “She likes simplicity, but she also likes evening clothes. Says a man looks better. I won’t wear a Tuxedo and look like a bob-tailed cat, so I’ve got to go the whole thing. When she sees five immaculate shirt fronts she’ll be just about happy.”
“Well, it does look nice,” said Ellery.
“Oh, I don’t mind once I’m in them.”
At last we were ready all but our ties, and none too soon, for we heard Ethel come into the front hall and say, “Dinner’s ready. Where are the men?”
And then Madge said, “Oh, they had to run up stairs at the last minute to get something. Here they come.”
Ethel called up to me, “Hurry down, dear. We’ll go in informally.”
“That’s right. We’ll be right down,” said I.
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CHAPTER XXV A CONTINUOUS WEEK END.
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CHAPTER XXVII A HOT NIGHT.
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