Page:Steadfast Heart.djvu/212

 yard under the swaying lines of gaudy paper lanterns—and in her secret thoughts she could not help comparing the manner, the poise, the dignity of her companion with those to whom she had presented him. He underwent the ordeal much more creditably than they, and she flushed with pride in him. “Why,” she said to herself, “he acts and looks more like a gentleman than any of them.” Which is what silence, reserve, and modesty can do for the least of us.

“I want you to have a good time—at your first party,” she told him. “You will have a good time, won’t you?”

Angus smiled. “I will—watch,” he said a trifle wistfully.

At last Lydia left him with a little group and excused herself to attend to other duties of hospitality. Angus knew a sensation of breathlessness, like a fish cast up on a sand bar. He did not know what to do, or what to say; yet his face was imperturbable, grave, noteworthy in its gravity. He wished himself a thousand miles away, yet his uneasiness was not apparent. To eyes which did not know his history he seemed a young man of fine poise and bearing….

“Won’t you sit down here?” invited a girl whose name he did not remember—a guest in Rainbow. It was a compliment to this bearing of his, though he was unconscious of it. She