“With a grin, Jimmie.”

“—­with a grin, there are other places where she can get two great big brown bears if she wants ’em.”

“I’ll see, sir.  I’ll see what I can do.”

Mr. Fitzgibbons brought a fist down upon the table so that the dishes rattled and the wine lopped out of the glasses.  “Sure you’ll see, and quick, too!  A great big brown bear, d’you hear?  My lady friend wants to dance, don’t you, Doll?  You wanna dance, and nothing but a great big brown bear won’t do—­eh, Doll?”

“With a grin, Jimmie!”

“With a grin, d’ye hear?” He whacked at her hand in delight and they laughed in right merry duet.

“Oh, Jimmie, you’re killing!”

“The sky’s my limit!”

She nibbled at a peach whose cheeks were pink as her own, and together from the great overflowing bowl of fruits they must trim her hat with its boyish brim.  First, a heavy bunch of black hothouse grapes that she pinned deftly to the crown, a cluster of cherries, a purple plum, a tangerine stuck at a gay angle.  They surveyed their foolish labor of caprice with little rills of laughter that rose and fell, and when she replaced her hat the cherries bobbed and kissed her cheek and the adjoining group leaned to her in the kinship of merriment.

“It’s a sweller trimming than I gave it last Tuesday, Jimmie.  Look how tight it’s all pinned on.  Look at the cherries!  I’m going to blow ’em right off and then eat ’em—­eat ’em!  Pf-f-f-f!”

She made as if to catch them with pursed lips, but they bobbed sidewise, and he regarded her with a swelling pride, then glanced about the room, pleased at the furor that followed her little antics.

“Gad, Doll, you’re a winner!  I can pick ’em every time!  You ain’t dolled up like the rest of ’em, but you’re a winner!”

“Oh-oh-oh!”

“That’s the ticket, waiter!  I knew there wasn’t nothing round here that tin wouldn’t buy.  I guess that ain’t some great big brown grizzly with a grin for you, Doll!”

“Oh-oh-oh!”

“I guess they didn’t rustle round when your Uncle Fuller began to get sore, and get a great big brown one for you!  Gad! the biggest I ever seen—­almost as big as you, Doll!  That’s the ticket!  There ain’t anything in this town tin can’t buy!”

“Oh-oh-oh!” She lifted the huge toy off the silver tray held out to her and buried her shining face in the soft, silky wool.  “Ain’t he a beauty?  Ain’t he the softest, brownest beauty?”

“Now, peaches, now cherries, now you little fancy-fruit stand, there goes the music.  Let’s see that dance!”

“Aw, Jimmie, I—­I was only kiddin’!”

“Kiddin’ nothing!  Come now, Doll, I blew me ten bucks if I blew me a cent for that bunch of wool.  Come now, let’s see that dance you been blowing about!  Go as far as you like, Doll!”

“I—­honest, I was only guyin’, Jimmie.”

“Don’t be a quitter and make me sore, Doll!  I wanna show ’em I pick the live ones every time.  There’s the music!”