"You came to see Miss Vee, didn't you?"

"Vee?" says I, lookin' puzzled. "Vee which?"

"Oh, you know, now!" protests Jane, tappin' me playful.

"Sorry," says I, "but this is a baby visit I'm payin'. Ask Uncle Ferdinand if it ain't."

"Humph!" says Peggy. "Anyone can fool Uncle Ferdy."

"Besides," says Jane, "we saw a picture on Vee's dressing table, and when we asked who it was she hid it. So there!"

"Not a picture of me, though," says I. "Couldn't be."

"Yes, it was," insists Jane.

"A snapshot of you," says Peggy, "taken in a boat."

I won't deny that was some cheerful bulletin; but somehow I had a hunch it might be best not to let on too much. Course, I could locate the time and place. I must have got on the film durin' my stay up at Roarin' Rocks last summer.

"In a boat!" says I. "Of all things!"

"And Vee doesn't want anyone to know about it," adds Jane, "specially her aunty."

"Why not?" comes in Peggy, lookin' me straight in the eye.

"Very curious!" says I, shakin' my head. "What else did Vee have to say about me?"

"M-m-m-m!" says Peggy. "We can't tell."

"We promised not to," says Jane.

"You're a fine pair of promisers!" says I. "I expect you hold secrets like a wire basket holds water."

"We never said a word, did we, Peggy?" demands Jane.

"Nope!" says Peggy. "Maybe he's the one Vee's aunty doesn't like."

"Are you?" says Jane, clawin' my shoulder excited.

"How utterly thrillin'!" says I. "Say, you're gettin' me all t.i.ttered up. Think it's me Aunty has the war club out for, do you?"

"It's someone with hair just like yours, anyway," says Peggy.

"Think of that!" says I. "Does red hair throw Aunty into convulsions, or what?"

"Aunt Marjorie says it's because you--that is, because the one she meant isn't anybody," says Jane. "He's poor, and all that. Are you poor?"

"Me?" says I. "Why--say, what is this you're tryin' to pull off on me, impeachment proceedings? Come now, don't you guess your Aunt Marjorie'll be wantin' you?"

"No," says Peggy. "She told us for goodness sake to run off and be quiet."

"What about this Miss Vee party, then?" says I. "Don't she need you to help her hook up?"

"We just came from her room," says Peggy.

"She pushed us out and locked the door," adds Jane.

"Great strategy!" says I. "Show me a door with a key in it."

"Pooh!" says Peggy. "You couldn't put us both out at once."

"Couldn't I?" says I. "Let's see."

With that I grabs one under each arm, and with the pair of 'em strugglin' and squealin' and rough housin' me for all they was worth, I starts towards the livin' room. We was right in the midst of the scrimmage when in walks Vee, with her hat and furs all on, lookin' some cla.s.sy, take it from me. But the encouragin' part of it is that she smiles friendly, and I smiles back.

[Ill.u.s.tration: We was right in the midst of the scrimmage when in walks Vee.]

"Well, you found someone, didn't you, girls?" says she.

"Oh, Vee, Vee!" sings out Peggy gleeful. "Isn't this Torchy?"

"Your Torchy?" demands Jane.

I tips Vee the signal for general denial and winks knowin'. But, say, you can't get by with anything crude on a pair of open-eyed kids like that.

"Oh, I saw!" announces Jane. "And you do know him, don't you, Vee?"

"Why, I suppose we have met before?" says she, laughin' ripply.

"Haven't we, Torchy?"

"Now that you mention it," says I, "I remember." And we shakes hands formal.

"Came to see the baby, I hear," says Vee.

"Oh, sure!" says I. "Maybe you could tell me about him first, though, if we could find a quiet corner."

"Oh, we'll tell you," chimes in Peggy. "We know all about Baby. He has a tooth!"

"Say," says I, wigglin' away from the pair, "couldn't you go load up someone else with information, just for ten minutes or so?"

"What for?" says Jane, eyin' me suspicious.

"We'd rather stay here," says Peggy decided.

I catches a humorous twinkle in Vee's gray eyes as she holds out her hands to the girls. "Listen," says she confidential. "You know those hermit cookies you're so fond of? Well, Cook made a whole jarful yesterday. They're in the pantry."

"I know," says Jane. "We found 'em last night."