Blanche did not show by the flicker of an eyelash that she appreciated the cleverness of this maneuver. "Why, that's a dreadful loss of time for Wallie," she said.
He thanked her with a glance that made his sister wince.
"Then shall I come back for you--Blanche?" The name came out after a moment's hesitation.
"Oh, no! Blair Hemming will drive me back."
Lillian felt a vague resentment that the girl should be so sure.
"And don't forget about to-morrow," Blanche warned Wallie, bidding good-by, and left him wondering what had been to-morrow. Nothing had, but the words, as Blanche had wickedly foreseen, lingered in Mrs. Gueste's mind, and vexed her.
"You have so many engagements, I wonder whether I shall see you at all," she hinted, as he handed her into the runabout.
He flushed slightly. "Well," he said, genially, as he took the reins, "you know there are mighty few of 'em I wouldn't break for you, Lil."
As they spun down the spongy asphalt of the boulevard, between the palms and electric-light poles, she was asking herself why it was that good, unsuspecting fellows like Wallie were always pounced upon by such women. She felt it was horrid to meddle, but this creature was so astonishingly impossible, and yet so overwhelming, that Wallie could hardly be expected to rescue himself. But she was cautious.
"Did you meet Miss Remi here, Wallie?" she asked him.
"Why, of course. All the nice people go there." He looked at her in lazy surprise.
"Oh!" she said, with a falling inflection. It was discouraging to find him so unconscious. "Does she go much?"
"Everywhere. She's awfully popular. How does she strike you?" He tried to be casual.
"She's not like anyone else I've seen in Santa Barbara," Lillian replied.
He fairly glowed. She had never seen Wallie so enthusiastic.
"You're just right, Lil! There _is_ no one like her. She makes every other girl look like a dough doll! It's not only that she's beautiful--she isn't afraid of anything, she don't care how she looks--she's just crackling with life."
"Do _you_ admire her so awfully?" Lillian said, with such an amazed emphasis on the personal pronoun as brought him up short.
"Why--er--of course. Why not? Don't you?" The color came up under his brown skin.