Page 36 (1/1)

"When?" Noble asked impulsively "When did she say that?"

"Oh, I d' know," said Herbert "I expect she proba'ly says it to so there is"

"She does?"

"Florence says so," Herbert inforrandpa's after dark and sits on the ground up against the porch and listens"

Noble first looked startled then uneasily reht to do that," he said gravely

"I wouldn't do it!" Herbert was elad you wouldn't"

"No, sir," the manly boy declared "You wouldn't never catch rass in the night air just to listen to a lot o' tooty-tooty about 'I've named a star for you,' and all such You wouldn't catch me----"

Noble partly concealed a sudden anguish "Who?" he interrupted "Who did she say that to?"

"She didn't They say it to her, and she says? 'Oh, you don't o on and say soot! I pro about all this"

"It's safe," Noble assured him quickly "I'm quite a friend of Florence's and it's absolutely safe with me I won't speak of it to anybody, Herbert Who was it told her he'd naan Newland Sanders wrote it Florence found it under Aunt Julia's sofa-cushions and read it all through, but I wouldn't wade through all that tooty-tooty for a million dollars, and I told her to put it back before Aunt Julia noticed Well, about every day he writes her a fresh one, and then in the evening he stays later than the rest, and reads 'eets to talkin' about it!"

"He's perfectly right," said Noble "Perfectly! What does he say when he talks about it, Herbert?"

"Oh, he says all this and that; and then he kind of mutters around, and you can't tell just what all the words are exactly, so't he can deny it if any o' the fa" And Herbert added casually: "He was kind of goin' on like that about you, night before last"