“Rose,” she supplied tritely.

“—­cake o’ soap,” concluded her uncle.  “Now, as for you and Will Douglas, as between Will’s forty—­”

“Marked down from forty-five,” she interjected.

“And your twenty-two—­”

“Looking like thirty-something.”

“Never mind,” said Dr. Elliot in martyred tones. “I don’t want to finish any sentence.  Why should I?  Got a niece to do it for me.”

“Nobody wants you to finish that one.  You’re a matchmaking old maid,” declared Esme, wrinkling her delicate nose at him, “and if you’re ever put up for our sewing-circle I shall blackball you.  Gossip!”

“Oh, if I wanted to gossip, I’d begin to hint about the name of Surtaine.”

The girl’s color did not change.  “As other people have evidently been doing to you.”

“A little.  Did you dance with him last night?”

“He wasn’t there.  He’s working very hard on his newspaper.”

“You seem to know a good deal about it.”

“Naturally, since I’ve bought into the paper myself.  I believe that’s the proper business phrase, isn’t it?”

“Bought in?  What do you mean?  You haven’t been making investments without my advice?”

“Don’t worry, Guardy, dear.  It isn’t strictly a business transaction.  I’ve been—­ahem—­establishing a sphere of influence.”

“Over Harrington Surtaine?”

“Over his newspaper.”

“Look here, Esme!  How serious is this Surtaine matter?” Dr. Elliot’s tone had a distinct suggestion of concern.

“For me?  Not serious at all.”

“But for him?”

“How can I tell?  Isn’t it likely to be serious for any of the unprotected young of your species when a Great American Pumess gets after him?” she queried demurely.

“But you can’t know him very well.  He’s been here only a few weeks, hasn’t he?”

“More than a month.  And from the first he’s gone everywhere.”

“That’s quite unusual for your set, isn’t it?  I thought you rather prided yourselves on being careful about outsiders.”

“No one’s an outsider whom Jinny Willard vouches for.  Besides every one likes Hal Surtaine for himself.”

“You among the number?”

“Yes, indeed,” she responded frankly.  “He’s attractive.  And he seems older and more—­well—­interesting than most of the boys of my set.”

“And that appeals to you?”

“Yes:  it does.  I get awfully bored with the just-out-of-college chatter of the boys.  I want to see the wheels go round, Guardy.  Real wheels, that make up real machinery and get real things done.  I’m not quite an ingenue, you know.”

“Thirty-five, thirty, twenty-five, fifteen, three,” murmured her uncle, rubbing his ear.  “And does young Surtaine give you inside glimpses of the machinery of his business?”

“Sometimes.  He doesn’t know very much about it himself, yet.”