Page:The Redemption of Anthony (1911).djvu/26

 "We've heard a good deal about you lately."

She leaned toward him impulsively.

"Have you? Has my mother talked of me?"

"Yes. She's been wondering what she's going to do with you."

"Oh!"

So long a pause ensued that Priscilla finally hurled herself into the breach.

"You're the first great person I've ever met, so I don't know what to say to you."

"I? I'm not a great person. If I were, I'd know what to say to you. I don't get on with girls—they frighten me."

"Are you frightened now? If you're half as frightened as I am, don't you think I might go tell mother that we couldn't talk?"

He looked at her and laughed. "I'd hate to confess to your mother that I was afraid of anything."

"Oh, you're that way, too, are you?"

"Your mother isn't afraid of anything."