“Oh, yes! You know that at a masked ball people talk of the very things they ought to leave you in ignorance of.”
“My poor friend,” I said, “pardon me for thus addressing you; but it appears to me that I know you since I have known your brother. Look here—you are unhappy, are not you? Now what is it?”
“Oh, my goodness! Nothing worth talking about.”
I saw that he did not wish to speak on the subject, so I said no more.
We took two or three turns in silence.—I was quite indifferent, for I expected nobody, but he was anxiously examining every domino that passed.
At length I said, “Do you know what you might do to-night?”
He started like a man suddenly aroused.
“I! No. I beg your pardon; what did you say?”
“I was about to propose a distraction which it seems to me you need.”