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 swan's down: like a man walking on red-hot budgets."

"Your merriment is ill-timed, Colonel," said Guadeloupe peevishly. "I thought you came tc Farniente to help me, and here you have been absent for hours when I needed you."

"You mustn't be angry, Daddy," said Nyla, looking so sunburned and pretty that no one could have been. "We got lost in the hills. The Colonel was trying to find some goldenrod, it's a favourite American flower and he thought it would be a delicate compliment to Frau Quackenbush."

"Certainly more delicate than my dancing with her would be," said the President.

"A good thing we did go," remarked Cointreau. "The car was in terrific condition. The valves need grinding, the clutch is dicky, the steering wheel's loose, and she's simply crusty with carbon. We got the goldenrod though, a whole taxi full."

"Taxi full?" asked Guadeloupe.

"Yes," Nyla explained. "You see, the car