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And, all the while, from the platform came the sounds of little cries in girlish voices, and the cadenced shuffling of young feet, where the witching dancemusic had its way, as ever and forever, with big and little slippers. The heart of William had behaved tumultuously the summer long, whenever his eyes beheld those pickets of the Parchers' fence, but now it outdid all its previous riotings.
"But with a boy of his age crazy enough to think he's in love, how do WE know what 'll happen? We're only his parents! Get your hat on." But when the uneasy couple found themselves upon the pavement before the house of the Parchers, they paused under the shade-trees in the darkness, and presently decided that it was not necessary to go in. Suddenly their uneasiness had fallen from them.
The ones you been lookin' for 'most every day." "You mean papa's evening clothes?" "Yes'm," said Jane. "Willie's got 'em on." "What!" "Yes, he has!" Jane assured her with emphasis. "I bet you he's had 'em on every single evening since Miss Pratt came to visit the Parchers! Anyway, he's got 'em on now, 'cause I saw 'em." Mrs. Baxter bit her lip and frowned. "Are you sure, Jane?" "Yes'm.
Baxter had gradually learned not to protest anxieties of this kind, unless he desired to argue with no prospect of ever getting a decision. "Hasn't she got any HOME?" he demanded, testily. "Isn't she ever going to quit visiting the Parchers and let people have a little peace?" Mrs. Baxter disregarded this outburst as he had disregarded her remark about William's pallor.
"You mean Miss Pratt?" she inquired, dreamily, her eyes following the progress of her son. "No, he really doesn't look well at all." "Is she going to visit the Parchers all summer?" Mr. Baxter insisted. "She already has, about," said Mrs. Baxter. "Look at that boy!" the father grumbled. "Mooning along with those other moon-calves can't even let her go to church alone!
Miss Pratt had now been a visitor at the Parchers' for something less than five weeks, but she had made no mention of prospective departure, and there was every reason to suppose that she meant to remain all summer.
"Ma'am?" "The dew is falling and it rained so hard to-day I'm afraid it might be damp." "Ma'am?" "Come on," Mr. Baxter said to his wife. "He's down on the Parchers' porch, not out in front here. Of course he can't hear you. It's three blocks and a half." But William's father was mistaken. Little he knew!
At this unspeakable desecration William's face was that of a high priest stricken at the altar. "She's visitin' Miss May Parcher," added the deadly Jane. "But the Parchers are awful tired of her. They wish she'd go home, but they don't like to tell her so." One after another these insults from the canaille fell upon the ears of William.
"The Parchers are to have a dance for her Friday night, and I understand there's to be a floor laid in the yard and great things. It's a farewell party." "That's one mercy, anyhow!" "And if you wonder what they say," she resumed, "why, probably they're all talking about the party. And when Willie IS alone with her well, what does anybody say?" Mrs. Baxter interrupted herself to laugh.
William was not upon the porch of the Parchers, with May Parcher and Joe Bullitt and Johnnie Watson to interfere. He was far from there, in a land where time was not. Upon a planet floating in pink mist, and uninhabited unless old Mr. Genesis and some Hindoo princes and the diligent Iowan may have established themselves in its remoter regions William was alone with Miss Pratt, in the conservatory.
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