"Yes; but I think we had better go home."
"Aren't you comfortable?"
"Oh, certainly, and it was very kind of you, Jack, to take so much trouble."
This gentleness alarmed Van Tassel more than any amount of coldness or impertinence would have done; but he fought off dejection.
"I have given you one thing, then, that you can't hand on to Clover," he said lightly.
The fountains leaped a last time and fell, dropping lower and lower, till only the white sea foaming about Columbia's barge was left. Soft radiance again lit up water and sculpture.
Mildred longed to be at home; and soon she and Jack entered a wagonette at the Park gate and were driven to the house. When they arrived, the orchestra at the hotel was playing the music of Carmen.
"There is a delicate compliment to you, Jack," she suggested, as they ascended the steps.
"Yes; but must you go right in?" for she showed symptoms of leaving him.
"It has been a long day," she answered, lingering with an unusual gentle compliance from which he gathered no hope.