“No, don't do any such thing; it would seem ungenerous to refuse, and yet I could not accord it.”
“Fairly beaten,” said he, with a sigh; “there is no help for it. You are the victor!”
“How did you leave our friends at 'The Home'?” said she, with an easy indifference in her tone.
“All well, perfectly well; that is to say, I believe so, for I only saw my host himself.”
“What a pleasant house; how well they understand receiving their friends!”
“It is so peaceful and so quiet!” said he, with an effort to seem at ease.
“And the garden is charming!”
“And all this is perfectly intolerable,” said he, rising, and speaking in a voice thick with suppressed anger. “I never came here to play a part in a vaudeville! Your father led me to believe, Miss Dill, that you might not be indisposed to lend me your favoring aid in a suit which I am interested in. He told me I should at least find you frank and outspoken; that if you felt inclined to assist me, you'd never enhance the service by a seeming doubt or hesitation—”
“And if I should not feel so inclined, what did he then give you to expect?”
“That you'd say so!”