"I"m afraid I"m precious poor company," said Charlie.
"I didn"t want you to be company at all," answered Miss Bellairs, and she sloped her parasol until it obstructed his view of her face.
"I"m awfully sorry, but I can"t stand the sort of rot Deane and Laing are talking."
"Can"t you? Neither can I."
"They never seem to be serious about anything, you know," and Charlie sighed deeply, and for three minutes there was silence.
"Do you know Scotland at all?" asked Charlie at last.
"Only a little."
"There last year?"
"No, I was in Switzerland."
"Oh."
"Do you know Interlaken?"
"No."
"Oh."
"May I have a cigarette?"
"Of course, if you like."
Charlie lit his cigarette and smoked silently for a minute or two.
"I call this a beastly place," said he.
"Yes, horrid," she answered, and the force of sympathy made her move the parasol and turn her face towards her companion. "But I thought,"
she continued, "you came here every spring?"
"Oh, I don"t mind the place so much. It"s the people."
"Yes, isn"t it? I know what you mean."
"You can"t make a joke of everything, can you?"
"Indeed no," sighed Dora.
Charlie looked at his cigarette, and, his eyes carefully fixed on it, said in a timid tone:
"What"s the point, for instance, of talking as if love was all bosh?"
Dora"s parasol swept down again swiftly, but Charlie was still looking at the cigarette and he did not notice its descent, nor could he see that Miss Bellairs"s cheek was no longer sallow.
"It"s such cheap rot," he continued, "and when a fellow"s--I say, Miss Bellairs, I"m not boring you?"
The parasol wavered and finally moved.
"No," said Miss Bellairs.
"I don"t know whether you--no, I mustn"t say that; but I know what it is to be in love, Miss Bellairs; but what"s the good of talking about it? Everybody laughs."
Miss Bellairs put down her parasol.
"I shouldn"t laugh," she said softly. "It"s horrid to laugh at people when they"re in trouble," and her eyes were very sympathetic.
"You are kind. I don"t mind talking about it to you. You know I"m not the sort of fellow who falls in love with every girl he meets; so of course it"s worse when I do."
"Was it just lately?" murmured Dora.
"Last summer."
"Ah! And--and didn"t she----?"
"Oh, I don"t know. Yes, hang it, I believe she did. She was perfectly straight, Miss Bellairs. I don"t say a word against her. She-I think she didn"t know her own feelings until--until I spoke, you know--and then----"
"Do go on, if--if it doesn"t----"
"Why, then, the poor girl cried and said it couldn"t be because she--she was engaged to another fellow; and she sent me away."
Miss Bellairs was listening attentively.
"And," continued Charlie, "she wrote and said it must be good-by and--and----"
"And you think she----?"
"She told me so," whispered Charlie. "She said she couldn"t part without telling me. Oh, I say, Miss Bellairs, isn"t it all d.a.m.nable? I beg your pardon."
Dora was tracing little figures on the gravel with her parasol.
"Now what would you do?" cried Charlie. "She loves me, I know she does, and she"s going to marry this other fellow because she promised him first. I don"t suppose she knew what love was then."
"Oh, I"m sure she didn"t," exclaimed Dora earnestly.
"You can"t blame her, you know. And it"s absurd to--to--to--not to--well, to marry a fellow you don"t care for when you care for another fellow, you know!"
"Yes."
"Of course you can hardly imagine yourself in that position, but suppose a man liked you and-and was placed like that, you know, what should you feel you ought to do?"
"Oh, I don"t know," exclaimed Dora, clasping her hands. "Oh, do tell me what you think! I"d give the world to know!"
Charlie"s surprised glance warned her of her betrayal. "You mustn"t ask me." she exclaimed hastily.