“Do not go mitout the little word, Yes, or No; it is not much to say.”

“Well then, No!”

“You mean it?  Dolly! truly mean it?”

“Yes, let me go at once, sir.”

Mr. Bopp stood up, saying slowly,—­“Yes, go now; they told me you had no heart; I beliefe it, and thank you for that No;” then bowed, and walked straight out of the hall, while the pink domino broke into a fit of laughter, saying to herself,—­

“I’ve done it!  I’ve done it! but what a piece of work there’ll be to-morrow.”

“Dick, who was that tall creature Fan was parading with last night?  No one knew, and he vanished before the masks were taken off,” asked Dolly, as she and her brother lounged in opposite corners of the sofa the morning after the masquerade, “talking it over.”

“That was old Bopp, Mrs. Peep.”

“Gracious me! why, he said he wasn’t coming.”

“People sometimes say what they don’t mean, as you may have discovered.”

“But why didn’t he come and speak to a body, Dick?”

“Better employed, I suppose.”

“Now don’t be cross, dear, but tell me all about it, for I don’t understand how you allowed him to monopolize Fan so.”

“Oh, don’t bother, I’m sleepy.”

“No you’re not; you look wicked; I know you’ve been in mischief, and I insist upon hearing all about it, so come and ‘fess’ this instant.”

Dolly proceeded to enforce her command by pulling away his pillow and dragging her brother into a sitting posture in spite of his laughing resistance and evident desire to exhaust her patience; for Dick excelled in teasing, and kept his sister in a fidget from morning till night, with occasional fits of penitence and petting which lasted till next time.  Therefore, though dying to ‘fess,’ he was undecided as to the best method of executing that task in the manner most aggravating to his listener and most agreeable to himself, and sat regarding her with twinkling eyes, and his curly pate in a high state of rumple, trying to appear innocently meek, but failing signally.

“Now, then, up and tell,” commanded Dolly.

“Well, if you won’t take my head off till I’m done, I’ll tell you the best joke of the season.  Are you sure the pink domino with Bopp wasn’t yourself,—­for she looked and acted very like you?”

“Of course I am.  I didn’t even know he was there, and think it very rude and ungentlemanly in him not to come and speak to me.  You know it was Fan, so do go on.”

“But it wasn’t, for she changed her mind and wore a black domino; I saw her put it on myself.  Her Cousin Jack came unexpectedly, and she thought if she altered her dress and went with him, you wouldn’t know her.”

“Who could it have been, Dick?”

“That’s the mystery, for, do you know, Bopp proposed to her.”

“He didn’t!” and Dolly flew up with a startled look that, to adopt a phrase from his own vocabulary, was “nuts” to her brother.