At that instant Inza seemed to observe him for the first time. He saw the color leave her face, and she quickly turned her head away.
It was as if a shot had been fired point-blank at Frank, and it nearly unseated him.
There was no longer a doubt in his mind. This girl was Inza, and she had refused to recognize him.
The boy had thought himself prepared for anything, but he discovered his mistake, for once more he was dazed, and they had passed before he recovered.
Then, with a fierce exclamation, he reined his horse about and followed them.
He saw Inza lean toward her companion and say something, whereupon the youth looked back, seeing that Frank had turned about. This fact he communicated to the girl, and they started forward at a swifter gait.
Frank actually ground his teeth. It was quite a new experience to him to be given the cold shoulder in such a manner, and all his nature rose up in rebellion against such treatment from one whom he had once saved from the teeth of a mad dog and again rescued from a frightful death beneath the wheels of a railway locomotive.
Frank felt injured as he had never before felt in all his life. It was a new experience for him.
“I must know her reason for this,” he muttered. “I suppose it is the proper thing for a gentleman who receives the cut to close his mouth and keep still about it; but I can’t do that without knowing why I was thrown down in such a manner by her.”
And so he followed them sharply to the Hyde Park corner, where he was close upon them. There they turned about quickly, and he stopped his horse in front of them, again lifting his hat, and saying: