Page:The Princess Casamassima (London and New York, Macmillan & Co., 1886), Volume 3.djvu/164

 that was not soothing but was nevertheless, in its rich spontaneity, one of the things he liked her for.

'If you have come to see me only to make jokes at my expense, you had better have stayed away altogether,' she said, with dignity, as they came out of the Green Park. 'In the first place it's rude, in the second place it's silly, and in the third place I see through you.'

'My dear Millicent, the motions you go through, the resentment you profess, are purely perfunctory,' her companion replied. 'But it doesn't matter; go on say anything you like. I came to see you for recreation, for a little entertainment without effort of my own. I scarcely ventured to hope, however, that you would make me laugh—I have been so dismal for a long time. In fact, I am dismal still. I wish I had your disposition! My mirth is feverish.'

'The first thing I require of any friend is that he should respect me,' Miss Henning announced. 'You lead a bad life. I know what to think about that,' she continued, irrelevantly.

'And is it out of respect for you that you wish me to lead a better one? To-day, then, is so much saved out of my wickedness. Let us get on the grass,' Hyacinth continued; 'it is innocent and pastoral to feel it under one's feet. It's jolly to be with you; you understand everything.'

'I don't understand everything you say, but I understand everything you hide,' the young woman returned, as the great central expanse of Hyde Park, looking intensely green and browsable, stretched away before them.

'Then I shall soon become a mystery to you, for I mean from this time forth to cease to seek safety in