Page:The Country-House Party.djvu/59

Rh pathetic in the turn of the little woman's lips. She looked so pale and forlorn that I thought I would take her out on the balcony and try to cheer her up.'

'Good old major, always soft-hearted,' said some one. The major turned on him an indignant look.

'I see,' he said, 'you have little sympathy with her: you think her a rather foolish little flirt. I confess I thought so myself for a moment. But now that I know her story, I apologise to her with all my heart.'

'What is that story?' Davison asked again.

'Just a moment I thought her a flirt,' continued the major, taking no notice of him: 'when she looked up at me with her big eyes and fumbled at the fastening of the cloak I had put about her.

I cannot button it," she said, and lifted her chin like a child might in order that I should do it for her.

'I felt the soft touch of her delicate neck upon my fingers, but could find no trace of a fastening. I looked down suspiciously into her innocent eyes; they looked back unconsciously. Could I