“Well, then we’ll go feed the gold-fish in the Japanese gardens,—­ they eat on Sundays, the poor things!  Nobody ever converted them.”

“Honestly, Peter—–­”

“Look here, Susan!” he exclaimed, suddenly aroused.  “Are you trying to throw me down?  Well, of all gall!”

Susan’s heart began to thump.

“No, of course I’m not!”

“Well, then, shall I get tickets for Monday night?”

“Not Monday.”

“Look here, Susan!  Somebody’s been stuffing you, I can see it!  Was it Auntie?  Come on, now, what’s the matter, all of a sudden?”

“There’s nothing sudden about it,” Susan said, with dignity, “but Auntie does think that I go about with you a good deal—–­”

Peter was silent.  Susan, stealing a glance at his face, saw that it was very red.

“Oh, I love that!  I’m crazy about it!” he said, grinning.  Then, with sudden masterfulness, “That’s all rot!  I’m coming for you on Sunday, and we’ll go feed the fishes!”

And he was gone.  Susan ate her lunch very thoughtfully, satisfied on the whole with the first application of the new plan.

On Sunday afternoon Mr. Coleman duly presented himself at the boarding-house, but he was accompanied by Miss Fox, to whom Susan, who saw her occasionally at the Saunders’, had taken a vague dislike, and by a Mr. Horace Carter, fat, sleepy, and slightly bald at twenty-six.

“I brought ’em along to pacify Auntie,” said Peter on the car.

Susan made a little grimace.

“You don’t like Con?  Oh, she’s loads of sport!” he assured her.  “And you’ll like Carter, too, he’s loads of fun!”

But Susan liked nobody and nothing that day.  It was a failure from beginning to end.  The sky was overcast, gloomy.  Not a leaf stirred on the dripping trees, in the silent Park, fog filled all the little canons.  There were very few children on the merry-go-rounds, or in the swings, and very few pleasure-seekers in the museum and the conservatories.  Miss Fox was quite comfortable in white furs, but Susan felt chilly.  She tried to strike a human spark from Mr. Carter, but failed.  Attempts at a general conversation also fell flat.

They listened to the band for a little while, but it was too cold to sit still very long, and when Peter proposed tea at the Occidental, Susan visibly brightened.  But the shamed color rose in her face when Miss Fox languidly assured him that if he wanted her mother to scalp her, well and good; if not, he would please not mention tea downtown.

She added that Mama was having a tea herself to-day, or she would ask them all to come home with her.  This put Susan in an uncomfortable position of which she had to make the best.

“If it wasn’t for an assorted bunch of boarders,” said Susan, “I would ask you all to our house.”

Miss Fox eyed her curiously a moment, then spoke to Peter.

“Well, do let’s do something, Peter!  Let’s go to the Japanese garden.”