"If you go to her and smarm her, it will be all right."

"If I do what to her?" asked Mervyn, wondering what the operation of smarming might be.

"Of course you don't know," laughed Aggie; "it is a school word. You explain what it means, Isabel."

"To smarm," explained Isabel, "signifies to say 'yes ma'am,' or 'yes marm,' to a governess when she is rating you. It is ah expressive word, isn't it? It means 'to conciliate by assent;' that is the best definition that I can give of it."

"Excellent word," said Mervyn. "Then. I am to smarm your mamma, am I, Aggie?["]