Page:Barbour--Peggy in the rain.djvu/66

. Have you—is there any one you fancy?"

"No, at the present moment I'm heart-whole. He paused a moment and frowned at the cigarette he was lighting. "Perhaps that's what the trouble is, Mums."

"If you are in earnest I'll look around for you, Gordon, but do try not to—to get mixed up again."

He nodded, blowing a cloud of smoke toward the ceiling. "All right. Not likely, anyhow. I've sown my wild oats. Still, you needn't begin to look just yet. I guess I like talking about it better than plunging. Happy marriages don't seem, in my experience, to be exactly a drug on the market! Ever known any, Mums?" "One, at any rate," replied Mrs. Ames gently.

"I know," said Gordon gloomily. "But you were different from the women nowadays. I don't suppose you ever had a real flirtation after you married dad, did you?"

"No, dear. I never saw the man worth flirting with, and I wouldn't have known how to flirt if I had."

"Oh, yes you would," replied Gordon cynically. "Flirting doesn't have to be learned. Well, I'm