Page:The Reverberator (2nd edition, American issue, London and New York, Macmillan & Co., 1888).djvu/75

Rh herself as to whether it might not be so; her pride, what she had of it, lay in an undistributed, inert form quite at the bottom of her heart and she had never yet invented any consoling theory to cover her want of a high spirit. She felt, as she looked up at Mr. Flack, that she didn't care even if he should think that she sacrificed him to a childish subservience. His bright eyes were hard, as if he could almost guess how cynical she was, and she turned her own again towards her retreating companions. "They are going to dinner; we oughtn't to be dawdling here," she said.

"Well, if they are going to dinner they'll have to eat the napkins. I ordered it and I know when it will be ready," George Flack replied. "Besides they are not going to dinner, they are going to walk in the park. Don't you worry, we sha'n't lose them. I wish we could!" the young man added, smiling.

"You wish we could?"

"I should like to feel that you were under my particular protection."

"Well, I don't know what the dangers are," said Francie, setting herself in motion again. She went after the others, but at the end of a few steps he stopped her again.

"You won't have confidence. I wish you would believe what I tell you."

"You haven't told me anything." And she turned her back to him, looking away at the