"Much!" she replied, with a laugh.
Then he lowered his voice oddly.
"It"s many a day since I was on this railroad," he said.
"Is this one of your old walks?" she asked, malicious.
"Yes, I"ve been it once or twice--with girls that are all married now."
"Didn"t you want to marry?" she asked.
"Oh, I don"t know. I may have done. But it never came off, somehow.
I"ve sometimes thought it never would come off."
"Why?"
"I don"t know, exactly. It didn"t seem to, you know. Perhaps neither of us was properly inclined."
"I should think so," she said.
"And yet," he admitted slyly, "I should _like_ to marry--" To this she did not answer.
"Shouldn"t you?" he continued.
"When I meet the right man," she laughed.
"That"s it," he said. "There, that"s just it! And you _haven"t_ met him?" His voice seemed smiling with a sort of triumph, as if he had caught her out.
"Well--once I thought I had--when I was engaged to Alexander."
"But you found you were mistaken?" he insisted.
"No. Mother was so ill at the time--"
"There"s always something to consider," he said.
She kept on wondering what she should do if he wanted to kiss her.
The mere incongruity of such a desire on his part formed a problem.
Luckily, for this evening he formulated no desire, but left her in the shop-door soon after nine, with the request:
"I shall see you in the week, shan"t I?"
"I"m not sure. I can"t promise now," she said hurriedly.
"Good-night."
What she felt chiefly about him was a decentralized perplexity, very much akin to no feeling at all.
"Who do you think took me for a walk, Miss Pinnegar?" she said, laughing, to her confidante.
"I can"t imagine," replied Miss Pinnegar, eyeing her.
"You never would imagine," said Alvina. "Albert Witham."
"Albert Witham!" exclaimed Miss Pinnegar, standing quite motionless.
"It may well take your breath away," said Alvina.
"No, it"s not that!" hurriedly expostulated Miss Pinnegar. "Well--!
Well, I declare!--" and then, on a new note: "Well, he"s very eligible, I think."
"Most eligible!" replied Alvina.
"Yes, he is," insisted Miss Pinnegar. "I think it"s very good."
"What"s very good?" asked Alvina.
Miss Pinnegar hesitated. She looked at Alvina. She reconsidered.
"Of course he"s not the man I should have imagined for you, but--"
"You think he"ll do?" said Alvina.
"Why not?" said Miss Pinnegar. "Why shouldn"t he do--if you like him."
"Ah--!" cried Alvina, sinking on the sofa with a laugh. "That"s it."
"Of course you couldn"t have anything to do with him if you don"t care for him," p.r.o.nounced Miss Pinnegar.
Albert continued to hang around. He did not make any direct attack for a few days. Suddenly one evening he appeared at the back door with a bunch of white stocks in his hand. His face lit up with a sudden, odd smile when she opened the door--a broad, pale-gleaming, remarkable smile.
"Lottie wanted to know if you"d come to tea tomorrow," he said straight out, looking at her with the pale light in his eyes, that smiled palely right into her eyes, but did not see her at all. He was waiting on the doorstep to come in.
"Will you come in?" said Alvina. "Father is in."
"Yes, I don"t mind," he said, pleased. He mounted the steps, still holding his bunch of white stocks.
James Houghton screwed round in his chair and peered over his spectacles to see who was coming.
"Father," said Alvina, "you know Mr. Witham, don"t you?"
James Houghton half rose. He still peered over his gla.s.ses at the intruder.
"Well--I do by sight. How do you do?"
He held out his frail hand.
Albert held back, with the flowers in his own hand, and giving his broad, pleased, pale-gleaming smile from father to daughter, he said: