Page:Caroline Lockhart--The Fighting Shepherdess.djvu/65

 DISILLUSIONMENT

"Hughie, I can't," she protested, shrinking back. " I'm — afraid."

" Yes, you can," determinedly. " Don't let these people think they can frighten you."

" I'll try because you want me to," she answered, " but it's all gone out of my head, and I know I can't."

" You'll get it directly," as he took her hand. "Just remember and count. One, two, three — now ! "

The bystanders tittered as she stumbled. The sound stung the boy like a whip, his black eyes flashed, but he said calmly enough:

" You make too much of it, Katie. Put your mind on the time and count."

She tried once more with no better result. She merely hopped, regardless of the music.

"I tell you I can't, Hughie," she said, despairingly. " Let's sit down."

" Never mind," soothingly as he acquiesced, " we'll try it again after a while. The next will very likely be a square dance and I can pilot you through that."

"You're so good ! "

He looked away to avoid her grateful eyes. What would she say if she knew the reason he had brought her there ? On a bet ! He had seen only what appeared to be the humorous side. Hughie's own pride enabled him to realize how deep were the hurts she was trying so pluckily to hide. But why did they treat her so ? Even her dreadful get-up seemed scarcely to account for it.

The next number, as he surmised, was a square dance.

"Take your pardners fer a quadrille ! "

There was a scrambling and a sliding over the floor, accompanied by much laugher, to the quickly formed " sets."

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