Page:Georgie by Dorothea Deakin, 1906.djvu/259

Peterkin "What do you think?"

"Why, I think she almost wishes she had left you in that muddy water."

"Good Lord!" he gave her such a glance of abject misery that she smiled.

"Cheer up, Georgie. You always could console yourself, you know, even in the bitterest moments. Drown your sorrows in dancing. The room is full of delightful girls."

"Ugh!" Georgie shuddered. Anne's eyes radiant, and mysterious, puzzled him. "I don't want any delightful girls. Give me your program!"

"You're not very polite," she said with a smile. " And you've got my program already."

He laughed recklessly.

"So I have." He scribbled his initials down the card. "Anne, you always understood me. Even when you tried to reform me, you weren't narrow. Even—"

"Give me back my program, Georgie. You're the host. You've taken enough. You—" 243