“Why ought we to go to Christie’s? She ought to come and see us!”

“Gerda, you know how it is! You know what she’s like. Besides, we’ve only asked her that once, when Bob and Lobbie were here. Let’s go now; there’s a dear girl! We’ll have plenty of time to get cleaned up before tea.”

Gerda seemed to struggle with herself for a moment; and then she yielded with the most charming grace. “All right,” she said, getting up; “only we must run in to Pimpernel’s on the way.”

Wolf’s spirits rose high as they left the house. He chuckled sardonically in his heart at his own elation. “The truth must be,” he said to himself, “that I’m simply infatuated with both of them⁠—that I want to snatch at Christie and yet not lose my hold on my sweet Gerda.”

The sight of the shopgirl in Pimpernel’s, however, brought down his happiness a great many pegs. He had completely forgotten Mrs. Torp.