“Yes,” she said, after several minutes of rapt contemplation: “Yes; the sunset is very nice, and the fields; but, oh, the old man is such a darling!”
As she spoke she turned to see how her teacher took her remark, and found herself face to face, not with Miss Downs, but with her own grandfather! She gave a little gasp of surprise, which he appeared not to notice.
“So you think him a darling, do you?” he asked, and somehow his voice did not 249 sound quite as harsh as it had done four years ago.
Miss Downs had passed on, and there was no one standing near them, no one at all in the gallery who shared Di’s knowledge of the strange situation. She felt sure that the old man had no suspicion of her identity.
“Yes, I do,” she answered boldly.
“What makes a darling of him?” the old gentleman inquired.
Di felt that this was her opportunity, and that she was letting it slip. But she could not help herself, and she only answered rather lamely:
“Oh, nothing, except that he is such a good grandfather!” Upon which she beat a hasty retreat, and fled to the protection of Miss Downs, whom she found in an adjoining room.
It was perhaps twenty minutes later that Di and her teacher passed the picture again, and, behold, there was the old gentleman standing, lost in thought, exactly on the spot where she had left him. He did not seem to be looking at the 250 picture, but Di felt certain that he was thinking of it. And, suddenly, it passed through her mind like a flash that he was sorry.
“Yes; he’s sorry,” she said to herself. “He’s sorry, and he doesn’t know how to say so!”