“I must dash along, too,” declared Landry when Page was gone.

He buttoned his coat about his neck, and Laura followed him out into the hall and found an umbrella for him.

“You were beautiful tonight,” he said, as he stood with his hand on the door knob. “Beautiful. I could not keep my eyes off of you, and I could not listen to anybody but you. And now,” he declared, solemnly, “I will see your eyes and hear your voice all the rest of the night. I want to explain,” he added, “about those hansoms⁠—about coming home with Miss Page and Mrs. Wessels. Mr. Corthell⁠—those were his hansoms, of course. But I wanted an umbrella, and I gave the driver seventy-five cents.”

“Why of course, of course,” said Laura, not quite divining what he was driving at.