"Let's not go to the reception," she said. "We've congratulated them a
dozen times already."
"Oh, we've got to go," he answered. "They would be disappointed.
We'll only stay a few minutes. Just as soon as I rest--I am played out
to-night--it is only a step."
They slipped among the guests at the reception quietly and
unobtrusively, but were instantly surrounded.
"A good service, David," said Mr. Daniels, eying him keenly. "You make
such a pretty job of it I'd like to try it over myself."
"Now, Dan," expostulated his anxious little wife. "Don't you pay any
attention to him, Mrs. Duke, he's always talking."
"I know it," said Carol appreciatively. "I never pay attention."
"You need a vacation, Mr. Duke," broke in a voice impulsively.
"I know it," assented David. "We'll take one in the spring,--and you
can help pay the expenses."
"You'd better take it now," suggested Mrs. Baldwin. "The church can
get along without you, you know."
But the laugh that went up was not genuine. Many of them, in their
devotion to David, wondered if the church really could get along
without him.
David gaily waved aside the enormous plate of refreshments that was
passed to him. "I had my dinner, you know," he explained.
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