Page:Saxe Holm's Stories, Series Two.djvu/130

120 name and message, she sprang to her feet, and exclaimed, "Why, the good soul! I 'm so glad to see him. Tell Mr. Bassett I 'll be down in a moment," but before the man had left the room, she exclaimed: "Wait, William." Then turning to her mother she said:—

"I believe I 'd better dress before I go down, for it 's four o'clock now and he 'll be just as likely to stay two hours as one, and I never could hurt his feelings by telling him I had an engagement."

"Yes, dear, I think so too," assented Mrs. Lane, though she did not in the least think so, having a very distinct impression of the incongruity between Fanny's evening toilet and her Deerway visitor. Then Fanny went to her room, saying in her heart as she went:—

"It may be all a ridiculous fancy of mine, but it wont do any harm; and if the poor fellow has really come down here with any such idea in his head, nothing would cure him of it so soon as to see me in evening dress. I know John Bassett well enough for that."

Fanny Lane had never forgotten; she had often wished she could forget,—the look on John's face just as the train moved out of the Deerway station, the day she had bade him good-by. It smote her with a pang,—not of remorse, for she was not conscious of having by look, word, or deed done anything to invite or to awaken his love,—but of bitter and bootless regret. She liked and esteemed