"Do you allow that, Mr. Sidney?" asked the girl.
"I allow anything but people to talk to me," said Phil, busy with the blues and greens of the water.
"There, you see!" said Violet accusingly. "He hadn't said a word of reproach to me before you came"; and the little minx allowed herself to throw a devoted glance in the direction of the artist's hat. If the mouse were going ultimately to make its escape, surely the kitten was entitled to whatever fun it could find in the situation.
Edgar pulled himself together.
"It's great just now," he said. "Don't you want to come out on the rocks, and see the row?"
Violet shook her head and touched her finger to her lips warningly.
Edgar scowled and looked at Phil's swift brush. Confound the girl, how was he to treat her magnanimously if she wouldn't give him an opportunity?
He held out the beribboned box and raised his eyebrows, gesturing with his head toward the rocks.
"Is there a string tied to it?" asked Violet, with a saucy, lazy smile; and Edgar lifted his chin superbly and tossed the box into her lap.
"The only girl here," she reflected; for she felt tempted to be flattered by the implied forethought.