"Well, how did you enjoy yourself?" said Wentworth when they had got outside again.
It was a clear, starlight night, and they had resolved to walk home together.
"I enjoyed myself very well indeed," answered Kenyon; "much better than I expected. It was a little awkward at first, but I got over that."
"I noticed you did--with help."
"Yes, "with help.""
"If you are inclined to rave, John, now that we are under the stars, remember I am a close confidant, and a sympathetic listener. I should like to hear you rave, just to learn how an exasperatingly sensible man acts under the circ.u.mstances."
"I shall not rave about anything, George, but I will tell you something.
I am going to Canada."
"Ah, did she speak about that?"
"She did."
"And of course her advice at once decides the matter, after my most cogent arguments have failed?"
"Don"t be offended, George, but--_it does_."
CHAPTER x.x.xI.
"What name, please?"
"Tell Mr. Wentworth a lady wishes to see him."
The boy departed rather dubiously, for he knew this message was decidedly irregular in a business office. People should give their names.
"A lady to see you, sir," he said to Wentworth; and, then, just as the boy had expected, his employer wanted to know the lady"s name.
Ladies are not frequent visitors at the office of an accountant in the City, so Wentworth touched his collar and tie to make sure they were in their correct position, and, wondering who the lady was, asked the boy to show her in.
"How do you do, Mr. Wentworth?" she said brightly, advancing towards his table and holding out her hand.
Wentworth caught his breath, and took her extended hand somewhat limply, then he pulled himself together; saying:
"This is an unexpected pleasure, Miss Brewster."
Jennie blushed very prettily, and laughed a laugh that Wentworth thought was like a little ripple of music from a mellow flute.
"It may be unexpected," she said, "but you don"t look a bit like a man suffering from an overdose of pure joy. You didn"t expect to see me, did you?"
"I did not; but now that you are here, may I ask in what way I can serve you?"
"Well, in the first place, you may ask me to take a chair, and in the second place you may sit down yourself; for I"ve come to have a long talk with you."
The prospect did not seem to be so alluring to Wentworth as one might have expected, when the announcement was made by a girl so pretty, and dressed in such exquisite taste; but the young man promptly offered her a chair, and then sat down, with the table between them. She placed her parasol and a few things she had been carrying on the table, arranging them with some care; then, having given him time to recover from his surprise, she flashed a look at him that sent a thrill to the finger-tips of the young man. Yet a danger understood is a danger half overcome; and Wentworth, unconsciously drawing a deep breath, nerved himself against any recurrence of a feeling he had been trying with but indifferent success to forget, saying grimly, but only half convincingly, to himself:
"You are not going to fool me a second time, my girl, lovely as you are."
A glimmer of a smile hovered about the red lips of the girl, a smile hardly perceptible, but giving an effect to her clear complexion as if a sunbeam had crept into the room, and its reflection had lit up her face.
"I have come to apologize, Mr. Wentworth," she said at last. "I find it a very difficult thing to do, and, as I don"t quite know how to begin, I plunge right into it."
"You don"t need to apologize to me for anything, Miss Brewster," replied Wentworth, rather stiffly.
"Oh yes, I do. Don"t make it harder than it is by being too frigidly polite about it, but say you accept the apology, and that you"re sorry--no, I don"t mean that--I should say that you"re sure I"m sorry, and that you know I won"t do it again."
Wentworth laughed, and Miss Brewster joined him.
"There," she said, "that"s ever so much better. I suppose you"ve been thinking hard things of me ever since we last met."
"I"ve tried to," replied Wentworth.
"Now, that"s what I call honest; besides, I like the implied compliment.
I think it"s very neat indeed. I"m really very, very sorry that I--that things happened as they did. I wouldn"t have blamed you if you had used exceedingly strong language about it at the time."
"I must confess that I did."
"Ah!" said Jennie, with a sigh, "you men have so many comforts denied to us women. But I came here for another purpose; if I had merely wanted to apologize, I think I would have written. I want some information which you can give me, if you like."
The young woman rested her elbows on the table, with her chin in her hands, gazing across at him earnestly and innocently. Poor George felt that it would be almost impossible to refuse anything to those large beseeching eyes.
"I want you to tell me about your mine."
All the geniality that had gradually come into Wentworth"s face and manner vanished instantly.
"So this is the old business over again," he said.
"How can you say that!" cried Jennie reproachfully. "I am asking for my own satisfaction entirely, and not for my paper. Besides, I tell you frankly what I want to know, and don"t try to get it by indirect means--by false pretences, as you once said."
"How can you expect me to give you information that does not belong to me alone? I have no right to speak of a business which concerns others without their permission."
"Ah, then, there are at least two more concerned in the mine," said Jennie gleefully. "Kenyon is one, I know; who is the other?"
"Miss Brewster, I will tell you nothing."
"But you have told me something already. Please go on and talk, Mr.
Wentworth--about anything you like--and I shall soon find out all I want to know about the mine."
She paused, but Wentworth remained silent, which, indeed, the bewildered young man realized was the only safe thing to do.
"They speak of the talkativeness of women," Miss Brewster went on, as if soliloquizing, "but it is nothing to that of the men. Once set a man talking, and you learn everything he knows--besides ever so much more that he doesn"t."