Page:Georgie by Dorothea Deakin, 1906.djvu/23

"Plain Anne" than she finds in Georgie. Curse everything!" "Come in," cried Georgie happily. "I'm getting my bat ready for the match to-morrow, and the weather's a dream. I'm nearly off my head with joy. It's a ripping world."

"I'm glad you find it so," said I shortly. "I don't agree with you, and I should like to have a few words with you when you've finished with that beastly bat."

He looked up with a good-tempered surprise.

"Hallo!" he said, "something's put you out. What's wrong, old chap?"

"Come into the garden," said I curtly, "and I'll tell you what's wrong."

In the privacy of his mother's rose garden I turned and faced him indignantly.

"Look here, you blithering young idiot," said I without preface, "what the devil do you mean by it?"

"Mean by what?" in amazement.

"How many girls do you happen to be engaged to at the present moment?" 7