Part 20 (1/2)

”Confound it!” he observed, devoutly. ”Who is it?”

”I don't know,” answered Dolly; ”but you must let me go. Good-night, again.”

He released her, and she ran in through the gate, and up the gravel walk, and so he was left to turn away and pa.s.s the intruder with an appearance of nonchalance. And pa.s.s him he did, though whether with successful indifference or not, one can hardly say; but in pa.s.sing him he looked up, and in looking up he recognized Ralph Gowan.

”Going to see her,” he said, to himself, just as poor Mollie had said the same thing, and just with the same heartburn. ”The dev--But, no,” he broke off sharply, ”I won't begin again. It is as she says,--the blessed little darling!--it is shabby to be down on him because he has the best of it.” And he went on his way, not rejoicing, it is true, but still trying to crush down a by no means unnatural feeling of rebellion.

CHAPTER X. ~ IN SLIPPERY PLACES.

THE wise one sat at the window and looked out. The view commanded by Bloomsbury Place was not a specially imposing or attractive one. Four or five tall, dingy houses with solitary scrubby shrubs in their small front slips of low-spirited looking gardens, four or five dingy and tall houses without the scrubby shrubs in their small front slips of low-spirited looking gardens, rows of Venetian blinds of various shades, and one or two lamp-posts,--not much to enliven the prospect.

The inhabitants of the houses in Bloomsbury Place were not p.r.o.ne to sitting at their front windows, accordingly; but this special afternoon, the weather being foggy, Aimee finding herself alone in the parlor, had left the fire just to look at this same fog, though it was by no means a novelty. The house was very quiet. 'Toinette was out, and so was Mollie, and Tod was asleep, lying upon a collection of cus.h.i.+ons on the hearth-rug, with two fingers in his mouth, his round baby face turned up luxuriously to catch the warmth.

The wise one was waiting for Mollie, who had gone out a few hours before to execute divers commissions of a domestic nature.

”She might have been back in half the time,” murmured the family sage, who sat on the carpet, flattening her small features against the gla.s.s.

”She might have done what she has to do in _less_ than half the time, but I knew how it would be when she went out. She is looking in at the shop windows and wis.h.i.+ng for things. I wish she would n't. People stare at her so, and I don't wonder. I am sure I cannot help watching her myself, sometimes. She grows prettier every day of her life, and she is beginning to know that she does, too.”

Five minutes after this the small face was drawn away from the window-pane with a sigh of relief.

”There she is now. What a time she has been! Who is with her, I wonder?

I cannot see whether it is Phil or Mr. Gowan, it is getting so dark. It must be Mr. Gowan. 'Toinette would be with them if it was Phil.”

”Why, Mollie,” she exclaimed, when the door opened, ”I saw somebody with you, and I thought it was Mr. Gowan. Why did n't he come in? Don't waken Tod.”

Mollie came in rather hurriedly, and going to the fire knelt down before it, holding out her hands to warm them. Her cheeks were brilliant with color and her eyes were bright; altogether, she looked a trifle excited.

”It was n't Mr. Gowan,” she answered. ”Ugh! how cold it is,--not frosty, you know, but that raw sort of cold, Aimee. I would rather have the frost myself, would n't you?”

But Aimee was not thinking of the weather.

”Not Mr. Gowan!” she e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed. ”Who was it, then?”

Mollie crept nearer to the fire and gave another little shudder.

”It was--somebody else,” she returned, with a triumphant little half-laugh. ”Guess who!”

”Who!” repeated Aimee. ”Somebody else! It was not any one I know.”

”It was somebody Phil knows.”

The wise one arose and came to the fire herself.

”It was some one taller than Brown!”

”Brown!” echoed Mollie, with an air of supreme contempt. ”He is _twice_ as tall. Brown is only about five feet high, and he wears an overcoat ten times too big for him, and it flaps--yes, it _flaps_ about his odious little heels. I should think it wasn't Brown. It was a gentleman.”

The wise one regarded her pretty, scornful face dubiously.