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Dell, Ethel M. (Ethel May), 1881-1939

"The Swindler and Other Stories"

Her real name was Mrs. Burrowes, but Priscilla
could not remember a time when she had ever called her anything but
Froggy. The old familiar name had become doubly dear to both of them now
that Mortimer was dead.
"I should be very shocked, indeed, darling, if it were otherwise," was
Froggy's answer.
And Priscilla breathed a long sigh of contentment. She knew that there
was no need to explain herself to this, her oldest friend.
She laid her cheek comfortably against the great dog's ear.
"No, Romeo," she murmured. "Your missis isn't going to be thrown at any
man's head if she knows it. But it's a difficult world, old boy; almost
an impossible world, I sometimes think. Froggy, I know you can be
sentimental when you try. What should you do if you fell in love with a
total stranger without ever knowing his name? Should you have the
fidelity to live in single blessedness all your life for the sake of
your hero?"
Froggy looked a little startled at the question, lightly as it was put.
She felt that it was scarcely a problem that could be settled offhand.
And yet something in Priscilla's manner seemed to indicate that she
wanted a prompt reply.
"It is a little difficult to say, dear," she said, after brief
reflection. "I can understand that one might be strongly attracted
towards a stranger, but I should think it scarcely possible that one
could go so far as to fall in love.


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