Page:Arthur Stringer--The House of Intrigue.djvu/50

40 "That's short for Barbara, you know," I explained, as we began to move forward.

"There positively ought to be a society for the prenatal suppression of impossible names," he declared, as we mounted to the board-walk. "Imagine an able-bodied man being sent out into the world with such a name as 'Wendy,' And a nice-looking girl being compelled to answer to the soubriquet of 'Baddie!'"

"I suspect the latter may fit a little nearer than you think," I told him.

He stopped and stared at me, long and earnestly. Under that steady look, in fact, I could feel my color deepen.

"On the contrary," he said with quiet decision, "I think you are entirely wrong in that intimation."

"Thank you!" was my stammered and altogether stupid reply to his absurd declaration of faith. By this time we were back at the hotel and I was directing my course so as to lead us to the lobster-colored mail-box. I turned away from him and stooped in front of it.

"Will you pardon me a moment," I murmured, "for I've a letter I'd like to mail here!"

He did not look, but I'm sure he heard the chink of metal as the little parcel fell into the lobster-