Hoff appeared to
be the exception. Adroitly he baffled all her efforts to get him to
discuss his family, his achievements, or his past, even when she sought
to encourage intimacy by telling about her brother who was abroad in
Pershing's army.
"You must let me be your big brother while he is away," her escort had
suggested gallantly.
"All right, brother," she had challenged him. "I'll take you on at once.
I have seats for a matinee to-morrow. I'd much rather go with a brother
than with one of the girls."
"I would be delighted," he answered unsuspectingly, "but unfortunately I
have an engagement that takes me out of town."
"We'll go next week, then--Wednesday."
"A week is too long to wait. Let me take you to a matinee on Saturday."
Jane hesitated. At times her conscience troubled her not a little. While
satisfied that the importance of her trust wholly justified her actions,
she disliked any deception of her family.
"Wouldn't it be better," she parried, "if you came to call on me some
evening first? You've only just met my mother, and I would like you to
know Dad, too."
"May I?" he cried with manifest pleasure. "How about to-morrow evening?"
"That's Wednesday," she answered slowly. That was the day she and Dean
were planning to put in a dictograph.
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