Tom ran his hands through his hair till it stood up, quivering as if he had received an electric shock.
"Oh, you needn't look so black at me, Bessie; I know just what a humbug I am as well as you."
"I wasn't looking black at you; I am very, very sorry, Tom."
"Don't pity me; I shall break right down if you do."
"I must go back, Tom," she said; "I can't stay here any longer."
"I know it; of course you can't. I'll just wait a minute and then——there, go! What a nuisance I am!"
Elizabeth went back into the ball-room, where she saw Elsie whirling through a waltz, looking as happy and unconscious as if she had not just crushed a warm, loving human heart under her pretty foot.
Mrs. Mellen stood a moment arrested; no one seemed to heed her.
She saw Mrs. Harrington forcing Mellen to walk through a quadrille, and felt certain that he was as restless as herself.
"But it is for Elsie," she thought; "he will not mind so long as it is for her. None of them will miss me."