"What a pretty hand you have, Miss Phœbe?"
She shrank at the compliment, and snatched her hand from his grasp. He did not take umbrage at this action, pretending not to notice it.
"We are both going home, Miss Phœbe. May I offer you my arm?"
"I can do quite well without, thank you," said Phœbe.
"And as well with. I always like to be polite to ladies; a gentleman can't do less. Let me carry a parcel or two for you. I shall tell your father that I assisted you, and he will be pleased. I do all his business for him, you know, and he has the greatest confidence in me. I do all I can to deserve it, I am sure. Thank you. Don't you feel more comfortable now? I should if I was a young lady, and a gentleman had insisted upon helping me."
Had it not been that she was fearful of angering her father, Phœbe would on no account have accepted his assistance; but he forced it upon her, and compelled her to take his arm. He walked proudly through the village with his lovely charge, tilting his hat a little on one side of his head to show his quality. Sometimes he dropped one of Phœbe's parcels, and when she once stooped to pick it up and their heads touched, he became quite merry, and asked her which was the hardest. She spoke scarcely a word; but he beguiled the way with anecdote and jest, and, when they reached Parksides, declared it was the pleasantest walk he had ever taken. She ran up to her room and left him alone. For himself, though he was at the door of the house, he did not enter it; he turned back, and walked about the grounds in thought, saying more than once to himself, "Upon my soul it wouldn't be half a bad move!" emphasizing his remark by slapping his leg smartly. On his way back to the house he encountered Tom Barley, and, elated by his reflections, he cried out:
"Hallo, you beggar! How are you getting on? Making your fortune?"
"No," said Tom Barley; "are you?"
"Yes," said Jeremiah, exultantly. "I'm getting on like a house on fire. Here's a penny—no, a ha'penny for you."
Tom Barley threw it back savagely, and it grazed Jeremiah's forehead.