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Show 't,ts .b.l.c Gllil 'Rose anil Stl\let approaching trouble and made a hurried escape. "Will you look at that?" asked Allison, with a hearty laugh. "1 hadn't even touched him and he became suspicious of me." "As I remember," Madame said, "my cats never got on very well with you." "I don't like them either," put in Isabel. "I like 'em," Allison said. "1 like 'em a whole lot, but it isn't mutual, and I never could understand why." At dinner, it seemed as though they all talked at once. Madame and the Colonel had a separate conversation of their own, while Allison "reminisced" with Isabel, as he said, and asked numerous questions of Rose in regard to the neighbours. "Please tell me," he said, "what has become of the Crosby twins?" "They're flourishing," Rose answered. "You don't mean it! What little devils they were!" "Are," corrected Rose. "Who are the Crosby twins?" inquired Isabel. "They 'II probably call on you," Rose replied, "so 1 won't spoil it by endeavouring to describe them. The language fails to do them justice." "What were their names?" mused Allison. "Let me see. Oh, yes, Romeo and Juliet." "O:be IJ)olce of tbe IJ)lolln "'Ramie' and 'Jule' by affectionate abbreviation, to each other," Rose added. Did you know that an uncle died in Australia and left them a small fortune?" "No, 1 didn't. What are they doing with 1't ?" "Do you remember, when you were a child, how you used to plan what you'd do with unlimited wealth?" Allison nodded. "Well," Rose resumed, "that's just what they're doing with it. They have only t~e income now but thiS Fall, when they re twenty~::me, ;hey 'II come into possessio~ of the principal. I prophesy bankruptcy m five years." "Even so," he smiled, "they 'II doubtless have pleasant memories." . . "What satisfaction do you thmk there w1ll be in that?" queried Isabel. . "I can't answer just now," Allison replied, "but the minute I'm bankrupt, I '11 come and tell you. It's likely to happen to me at any time." Meanwhile Colonel Kent was expressing the pleasure he had found in his well-appointed household. "Was it very much trouble, F rancesca?" "None at all-to me.~~ u You always were wonderful." "You see," she smiled, "I didn't do it. 39 "~omlc'' "3'u"l'c " |