Page:George Weston--The apple-tree girl.djvu/150

 A faint murmur answered him.

"Well, you thought wrong, and not the first time, either," he retorted. A curious screeching sound interrupted him. "Oh, for heaven's sake!" he cried. "Choke that parrot!"

Downstairs, Charlotte stiffened with indignation. "The idea!" she thought. "Talking to his mother's cousin like that! I'd like to hear him talk that way to me!"

When, a few minutes later, Perry strolled out with her to show her the flowers, she had made up her mind exactly what to do, and was casting around in her mind for the opening phrase. "I'll soon stop all this!" she told herself.

Perry had led her to a rose arbor at the back of the house, and was breaking off large clusters of Dorothy Perkinses with the prodigal actions of a nervous young man who had something on his mind and didn't know quite how to begin it.