Page:That Royle Girl (Balmer).pdf/342

 Suddenly his mother lost all restraint and cast herself upon him, sobbing.

"Why, I got the world by the tail, mamsie!" he boasted, patting her. "I got the world by the tail," he repeated, but began crying himself, all the while hugging Joan close to him.

"South!" he shouted direction to the driver, at the halt before the boulevard; his mother kissed him and sat up, drying her eyes, and he released her, but kept Joan Daisy embraced. "I'll get out here, Frederic," his mother offered.

"You won't," said Ket in a tone which told that he did not want her; so she caught her breath and insisted.

"I'll take you down town first," he said generously. "Where are you going?"

She named the boulevard corner at Madison Street; and when the cab stopped, he got out and from a pocket abstracted a banknote. "Here's a twenty that Weigal wished onto me," he announced, and made his mother accept it before he let her out. "I want you to spend every cent of it on yourself to-day," he ordered, grandly, and led her a few steps down the sidewalk.

Joan Daisy watched him from the cab, perfectly aware of his intentions in regard to herself. She was on the side of the seat furthest from the curb, and her hand went to the latch of the door with an instinct of escape which she denied even before he turned back toward her, lifting himself on his toes as he stepped as though, having left his mother, he was lightened of his last restraint. He attracted attention of girls on the walk; it was not recognition; merely the flattering gazes which always went to him, and he delayed at the cab door to enjoy them a few moments more, while he casually directed the driver to a south side hotel.

He looked in at Jo and her eyes, after the admiring eyes