Page:Barbour--Peggy in the rain.djvu/67

 tuckered." He drew his long length from the chair and stood up in the soft glow of the silk-shaded lights. Mrs. Ames sighed.

"Gordon, you're much too good looking. I don't know where you get it. Your father was a good man and a big man, but even I could never consider him handsome."

"Fortunately, then, I had a mother," responded Gordon. "Ever meet her, Mums? She's one of the best-lookers in New York this minute!"

Mrs. Ames smiled and shook her head. "I don't pretend that I wasn't—rather pretty when I was younger, Gordon "

"My word, you're getting better looking every day, Mother! Why, you'd have had the whole bunch of 'em 'ridden off' if you'd been at Aiken! Good night. I'll look in before I go downtown."

He bent over and kissed her. "How do you keep your hair so young-looking, Mums?"

"It's quite full of gray, my dear, and I'm only"

"Careful!"

"Fifty-two, Gordon. Lots of women don't get gray before sixty."

"Gray!" Gordon chuckled. "Why, you