But--" "That's what we want to know, but what ?" and "Subway" leaned forward eagerly.
"But," continued Monty, "I'm in for it now, and it is going to be a ball that is a ball." Nevertheless the optimistic Brewster could not find the courage to tell Peggy of these picturesque extravagances.

To satisfy her curiosity he blandly informed her that he was getting off much more cheaply than he had expected.

He laughingly denounced as untrue the stories that had come to her from outside sources.

And before his convincing assertions that reports were ridiculously exaggerated, the troubled expression in the girl's eyes disappeared.
"I must seem a fool," groaned Monty, as he left the house after one of these explanatory trials, "but what will she think of me toward the end of the year when I am really in harness ?" He found it hard to control the desire to be straight with Peggy and tell her the story of his mad race in pursuit of poverty.
Preparations for the ball went on steadily, and in a dull winter it had its color value for society.

It was to be a Spanish costume-ball, and at many tea-tables the talk of it was a god-send.