Page:Booth Tarkington - Alice Adams.djvu/97

 time. You don't call that Palmer family frozen-face berries, I s'pose. No?"

"Certainly not. They're just dignified and"

"Yeuh!" said Walter. "They're dignified, 'specially when you tried to whisper to Mildred to show how in with her you were, and she moved you on that way. She's a hot friend, isn't she!"

"She didn't mean anything by it. She"

"Ole Palmer's a hearty, slap you-on-the-back ole berry," Walter interrupted; adding in a casual tone, "All I'd like, I'd like to hit him."

"Walter! By the way, you mustn't forget to ask Mildred for a dance before the evening is over."

"Me?" He produced the lop-sided appearance of his laugh, but without making it vocal. "You watch me do it!"

"She probably won't have one left, but you must ask her, anyway."

"Why must I?"

"Because, in the first place, you're supposed to, and, in the second place, she's my most intimate friend."

"Yeuh? Is she? I've heard you pull that 'most-intimate-friend' stuff often enough about her. What's she ever do to show she is?"