Page:O Genteel Lady! (1926).pdf/227

 thinking—this large bearded man, sitting almost too close, in a subtly episcopal raincoat and wet American shoes. Was he too true to the memory of his dead wife Prunella, or had perchance Anthony Jones dropped some light remark to his friend that would make a good man hesitate before offering marriage? He had strode into the house of her being. He had found doors and opened them. He had wandered down corridors and upstairs and he had found one secret door locked against him. One holy of holies which his wise eyes and kind heart could never penetrate. A little locked room to which he had no key. What thoughts were behind that strong brow?

'Miss Bardeen,' he said rather solemnly, 'the vicar is evidently accustomed to nibbling hard candy during his rainy weather calls. In fact this inner pocket—well in out of the wet—is full of them. Allow me.'

They both rolled the durable sweets about their tongues. Lanice laughed slightly.

'Why do you laugh, Miss Bardeen?'

'I was thinking that you looked rather like Zeus and was expecting you to launch a thunderbolt, and instead of that you were fishing about in your pockets, trying to make up your mind whether or not you dared steal the candy.'

He looked at her with a sweet smile. Schooled as she was to Anthony's furious desires, she could not see anything more than affectionate consideration in his glance. When preparing for an unwanted proposal she had taken an obstinate pleasure in the ugliness of her borrowed clothes. Now, with what the