Juliet bloomed with pleasure and her eyes sparkled.  “Isabel came out to see us,” she continued, “and I don’t think she had a good time.  We showed her all our fishing rods, and let her help us make fudges, and we did stunts for her on the trapeze in the attic, and Romie told her she could have any one of our dogs, but she said she didn’t want it, and she wouldn’t stay to supper.  I guess she thought I couldn’t cook just because she can’t.  Romie said if I’d make another chocolate cake like the one I made the day after she was there, he’d take it up to her and show her whether I could cook or not.”

“I believe he would,” returned Allison, with a trace of sarcasm which Juliet entirely missed.  Then he laughed at the vision of Romeo bearing the proof of his twin’s culinary skill into Madame Bernard’s living room.

“You come out and see us,” urged Juliet, hospitably.

“I will, indeed.  May I have a dog?”

“They’re Romie’s and I can’t give ’em away, but I guess he could spare you one.  Would you rather have a puppy or a full-grown dog?”

“I’d have to see ’em first,” he replied, tactfully steering away from the danger of a choice.  He had not felt the need of a dog and was merely trying to be pleasant.

“There’s plenty to see,” she went on, with a winning smile.  “I like dogs myself but we fought once because I thought we had too many.  We’ve named ’em all out of an old book we found in the attic.  There’s Achilles, and Hector, and Persephone, and Minerva, and Circe and Juno, and Priam, and Eurydice, and goodness knows how many more.  Romie knows all their names, but I don’t.”

Hearing the sound of wheels outside, Colonel Kent, with a certain old-fashioned hospitality to which our generation might happily return, went to open the door himself for his expected guests.  Juliet went hastily to the mirror to make sure that her turbulent curls were in order, and Romeo intercepted Allison on his way to the door.

“I heard what she said,” Romeo remarked, in a low tone, “about my having been up here, but I didn’t tell her I was here.  I don’t lie to Jule, but I’m responsible only for what I say, not for what she thinks.”

Allison smiled with full understanding of the situation.  “We men have to be careful what we say to women,” he replied, with an air of caution and comradeship that made his young guest feel like a full-fledged man of the world.

“Sure,” assented Romeo, with a broad grin and a movement of one eyelid which was almost—­but not quite—­a wink.

Presently the three other guests came in, followed by the Colonel.  Madame Francesca was in white silk over which violets had been scattered with a lavish hand, then woven into the shining fabric.  She wore violets in her hair and at her belt, and a single amethyst at her throat.  Isabel was in white, with flounces of spangled lace, and Rose was unusually lovely in a gown of old gold satin and a necklace of palest topaz.  In her dark hair was a single yellow rose.