"As what?" asks Gower, who delights in annoying Mrs. Chichester.
"As you!" returns she, with a contemptuous glance that fills him with joy.
"Come," says Mrs. Chichester, calling again to Tita, and patting the chair in question. "You look tired. This is a perfect lounge."
"She looks as if she had been crying," says old Miss Gower, frowning at Tita over her glasses.
Again that strange pang contracts Rylton's heart. Has she been crying—and because of him?
"Looks! What are looks?" cries Mrs. Chichester gaily. "Looks always belie one."
"Certainly Lady Rylton's must belie her," says Mrs. Bethune, with a slow smile. "What cause has she for tears?"
"Not one!" declares Mrs. Chichester with decision. "It would be 'a sinner above all the Galileans' who would make Lady Rylton cry."
Her queer green eyes smile at Tita, who smiles back at her in her little sweet way, and then all at once bursts out laughing. It is a charming laugh, apparently full of mirth. There are only two present who do not quite believe in it, Margaret and Tom Hescott—but these two love her.
As for Rylton, some instinct causes him at this moment to look at Hescott. Tita's cousin is staring at her, his brows met, his lips somewhat compressed. He has forgotten that people may be staring at him in return, maybe measuring his thoughts on this or that. He has forgotten everything, indeed, except Tita's pale, laughing face and dancing, tear-stained eyes.