Page:Elizabeth's Pretenders.djvu/186

Rh should like nothing better, and looked interrogatively at Hatty. She, in turn, looked interrogatively at her brother.

Baring. "Do you feel strong enough?"

Hatty. "Certainly. Why not? There is no fatigue in sitting in the forest and sketching."

Baring. "I am afraid I have too much to do; but you and Miss Shaw can go together without me."

Hatty. "I should not think of doing so."

George. "I thought American young ladies were above such foolish prejudices."

Hatty (tartly). "It has nothing to say to prejudice, Mr. George. Miss Shaw and I could go together, or I could go alone, if it came to that. Simply, I do not choose to go without my brother."

Eliza. "It is a pity to make Mr. Baring accompany us—against his inclination."

Hatty. "Oh! it is all nonsense. He gets into a groove. It would do him good to be in the country for two or three days. Besides, he wants a background to his picture. He ought really to make some studies for it."

There was silence for the space of nearly a minute. It was felt that the autocrat was making his august decision. Then he said quietly, as he put down his cup—

"If we are to go—if you really wish it—it had best be to-morrow. The weather may change."

The result of those four days in the Forest of Fontainebleau justified Daintree's confident expectations. That astute youth had seen at once that the chief difficulty in his path would probably be this American, with his