Popova promised to go
to the hotel and get it for me, but we were bundled away in such a
hurry."
"Heavens! Imagine any one forgetting such a name! Alexander H. Pike,
Bessemer, Pennsylvania, tariff-fed infant and all-round plutocrat."
"Why, of course, _Pike, Pike_--it is the name of a fish."
"Thank you."
The young gentleman from the army moved uneasily, and they remembered
that he was present. He hoped they wouldn't mind if he went to look up
his partner for the next dance, and they assured him that they wouldn't,
and he believed them and was backing away when Popova arrived to suggest
the lateness of the hour and intimate his willingness to return to the
hotel.
His sudden journey to the western hemisphere and his period of residence
at Washington had been punctuated with surprises, but the amazement
which smote him when he saw Kalora leaning across the table toward the
young man who had introduced the gin fizz into Morovenia was sudden and
shocking.
Mr. Pike greeted him rapturously and gave him the keys to North America,
and then Kalora patted him on the arm and sent him away to wait for her.
They sat and talked for an hour--sat and talked and laughed and pieced
out between them the wonderful details of that very lively day in
Morovenia.
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