Picture Stories Magazine (Sept 1914-Feb 1915)

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FATHER'S FLIRTATION. 157 Perhaps you are a trifle portly," she •answered. " That's it," said Mr. Bunny. " Portly— that's the word." Betty did not meet the train, but she was •watching from the window of the boardinghouse, and when they came in sight she rushed out to meet them, and bustled them into her sitting-room. Oh, I'm so glad you've come," she cried •enthusiastically. " We'll have such a time. I do want father to enjoy himself." " Your father," said Mrs. Bunny severely, will be under my eye." The landlady — a cold, austere-looking woman — was introduced, and preliminaries (having been arranged, led Mrs. Bunny away to show her the room prepared for her. Mr. Bunny, who, with a huge cigar in his mouth, had been wandering up and down the room, ■was left alone with his daughter. " Poor old dad," said Betty. " He shall have a good time, he shall." Mr. Bunny kissed his daughter, winked solemnly, and said : Look here, Betty, you're a good girl. I'm going to take a stroll round the town, iust to see the place, you know. Don't tell your mother." Betty laughed. " I won't say a word," she said, " but mind you don't get into mischief." Mr. Bunny went out chuckling to himself. To escape even for an hour from his wife's watchful eye and rather sharp tongue gave him a pleasant sense of freedom. And there was no harm in a quiet stroll. Alas for good intentions ! He had not gone far before he forgot all about them and about Mrs. Bunny as well. It was a woman who proved his undoing, as has happened often enough before, and to men made of sterner stuff than Mr. Bunny, who had a roving eye. She was a smart little woman too, as pretty as apicture, Mr. Bunny thought. She stepped briskly along, and in passing threw him a sidelong glance and a roguish smile. That smile went straight to Mr. Bunny's susceptible heart. He turned and looked after her, and then — was it accident or design 1 — she dropped one of the parcels she was carrying. Gallantly Mr. Bunny ran to her assistance. Thank you so much," she said sweetly, giving him another smile which prompted him to suggest that he should carry her parcels for her. She accepted gratefully, and Mr. Bunny was promptly constituted light porter. He was enjoying himself hugely, and no thought of Mrs. Bunny crossed his mind. The little woman chattered away, and so captivated him that when they reached the house where she lived and he had handed over her parcels, he found courage to ask if he could call upon her that afternoon. "Oh, yes, do," she answered, so cordially that Mr. Bunny was convinced he had made a conquest. What a charming little woman she was ! None of your silly, giggling girls, but a smart, sensible woman of the world. He walked away with a jaunty air and a sense of exhilaration which made him feel almost a boy again. He was in the mood for adventures that morning, and adventures came his way. With his new youthfulness he looked with indulgent eyes upon a party of four young fellows, wonderfully arrayed in fantastic clothes, who were dancing along the pavement and seemed remarkably joyous about something or other. They were shouting at the top of their voices something which Mr. Bunny guessed to be a college war cry. " Rah — rah — rah — rah ! " Mr. Bunny, who felt not a day older than these merry lads, recalled many such mad doings in his college days, and sighed because those days were over. He followed them, and forgetting that he had put on flesh in recent years, wished that he could wear clothes and a hat like theirs, and go dancing and shouting through the streets. One of the young fellows turned and saw him following, called out something to his companions, and in another minute the jolly quartette had surrounded him and were dancing about like wild Indians. They had probably expected that Mr. Bunny would be angry, and when he too began to laugh, and even to dance, they were delighted. " He's one of us," cried one. " He's a real ' Rah-rah boy ! ' " " Rah — rah — rah — rah," roared Mr. Bunny, cutting capers with astonishing agility. Suddenly he stopped and held up his hand to command attention. " Boys," he said, solemnly, " I must have some ' Rah-rah ' clothes too." " You shall," they cried in chorus, and linking arms, two on either side, they led him to a big outfitter's shop and marched him up to the counter.