"You would not have come here with me to-day, you mean?" gloomily.
"Indeed I should not. Nothing would have induced me. You have put me out terribly."
"I suppose you like Chetwoode," says Archibald, still more gloomily.
Having never been denied anything since his birth, he cannot bring himself to accept this crowning misfortune with becoming grace.
"I like everybody,--except Florence," returns Lilian, composedly.
Then there is another pause, rather longer than the first, and then--after a violent struggle with her better feelings--Miss Chesney gives way, and laughs long and heartily.
"My dear Archibald, don"t look so woe-begone," she says. "If you could only see yourself! You look as though every relation you ever had was dead. Why, you ought to be very much obliged to me. Have you never heard Mr. Punch"s advice to young men about to marry?"
"I don"t want any one"s advice; it is late for that, I fancy.
Lilian--darling--_darling_--won"t you----"
"I won"t, indeed," recoiling and waving him back, while feeling for the first time slightly embarra.s.sed; "don"t come a step nearer; n.o.body ever made love to me before, and I perfectly _hate_ it! I hope sincerely no one will ever propose to me again."
"_I_ shall!" doggedly; "I shan"t give you up yet. You have not thought about it. When you know me better you may change your mind."
"Do not deceive yourself," gently, "and do not be offended. It is not you I have an objection to, it is marriage generally. I have only begun my life, and a husband must be such a bore. Any number of people have told me so."
"Old maids, such as your Aunt Priscilla, I dare say," says Archibald, scornfully. "Don"t believe them. I wouldn"t bore you: you should have everything exactly your own way."
"I have that now."
"And I will wait for you as long as you please."
"So you may," gayly; "but mind, I don"t desire you.
"May I take that as a grain of hope?" demands he, eagerly grasping this poor shadow of a crumb with avidity, only to find later on it is no crumb at all. "Don"t be cruel, Lilian: every one thinks differently after a while; you may also. You have said I am not hateful to you; if then you would only promise to think it over----"
"Impossible," airily: "I never think: it is too fatiguing. So are you, by the bye, just now. I shan"t stay with you any longer, lest I should be infected. Good-bye, Archie; when you are in a pleasanter mood you can return to me, but until then adieu."
So saying, she catches her train in one hand and runs away from him fast as her fleet little feet can carry her.
Down the pathway, round under the limes, into another path runs she, where suddenly she finds herself in Taffy"s presence.
"Whither away, fair maid?" asks that youth, removing the cigar from his lips that he is enjoying all alone.
"I am running away from Archie. He was so excessively dull and disagreeable that I could not bring myself to waste another moment on him, so I ran away and left him just _plante la_," says Miss Chesney, with a little foreign gesture and a delicious laugh that rings far through the clear air, and reaches Archibald"s ears as he draws nearer.
"Come, I hear footsteps," whispers she, slipping her hand into Taffy"s.
"Help me to hide from him."
So together they scamper still farther away, until at last they arrive breathless but secure in the shrubberies that surround one side of the house.
When they have quite recovered themselves, it occurs to Taffy that he would like to know all about it.
"What was he saying to you?" asks he _a propos_ of Chesney.
"Nothing," promptly.
Taffy, curiously: "Well, certainly that _was_ very disagreeable."
Lilian, demurely: "It was."
At this Taffy lays his hands upon her shoulders and gives her a good shake.
"Tell me directly," says he, "what he was saying to you."
"How can I?" innocently; "he says so much and none of it worth repeating."
"Was he making love to you?"
"No. Oh, no," mildly.
"I"m certain he was," with conviction. "And look here, Lil, don"t you have anything to do with him: he isn"t up to the mark by any means. He is too dark, and there is something queer about his eyes. I once saw a man who had cut the throats of his mother, his grandmother, and all his nearest relations,--any amount of them,--and his eyes were just like Chesney"s. Don"t marry him, whatever you do."
"I won"t," laughing: "I should hate to have my throat cut."
"There"s Chetwoode, now," says Taffy, who begins to think himself a very deep and delicate diplomatist. "He is a very decent fellow all round if you like."
"I do like, certainly. It is quite a comfort to know Sir Guy is not indecent."
"Oh, you know what I mean well enough. There"s nothing underhand about Chetwoode. By the bye, what have you been doing to him? He is awfully down on his luck all day."
"I!" coldly. "What should I do to Sir Guy?"
"I don"t know, I"m sure, but girls have a horrid way of teasing a fellow while pretending to be perfectly civil to him all the time. It is my private opinion," says Mr. Musgrave, mysteriously,--"and I flatter myself I am seldom wrong,--that he is dead spoons on you."
"Really, Taffy!" begins Lilian, angrily.
"Yes, he is: you take my word for it. I"m rather a judge in such matters. Bet you a fiver," says Mr. Musgrave, "he proposes to you before the year is out."
"I wonder, Taffy, how you can be so vulgar!" says Lilian, with crimson cheeks, and a fine show of superior breeding. "I never bet. I forbid you to speak to me on this subject again. Sir Guy, I a.s.sure you, has as much intention of proposing to me as I have of accepting him should he do so."
"More fool you," says Taffy, unabashed. "I"m sure he is much nicer than that melancholy Chesney. If I were a girl I should marry him straight off."
"Perhaps he would not marry you," replies Lilian, cuttingly.
"Wouldn"t he? he would like a shot, if I were like Lilian Chesney," says Taffy, positively.
""Like a shot"--what does that mean?" says Miss Chesney, with withering sarcasm. "It is a pity you cannot forget your schoolboy slang, and try to be a gentleman. I don"t think you over hear that "decent fellow" Sir Guy, or even that cut-throat Archibald, use it."
With this parting shaft she marches off overflowing with indignation, leaving Mr. Musgrave lost in wonder at her sudden change of manner.
"What on earth is up with her now?" he asks himself, desperately; but the dressing-bell ringing at this moment disarms thought, and sends him in-doors to prepare for dinner.