"Mr. Mildmay!" she exclaimed, holding out her hand. "Why, how glad I am to see you again!"
"And I you, Miss Longworth," he answered heartily, "but to be frank with you, I would rather have met you somewhere else."
The colour which had suddenly streamed into her cheeks faded away, and she sighed. Tall, and very immaculate in the neat simplicity of his severe evening dress, he seemed to her a more formidable person than ever he had done on the steamer. The disapproval, too, which he felt, he could scarcely help showing in some measure in his face.
"Perhaps," she said, "I ought not to have asked you to do anything so compromising as to sit with me. Please don't hesitate to say so if you would rather not."
He seated himself by her side and drew the carte toward him.
"Have you ordered?" he asked.
She nodded.
"I am so sorry," she said, "but I am in no hurry. You can catch me up." He ordered something from the waiter who was standing by, and then turned again to her.
"You mustn't be unfair to me, please," he said. "It is only because I hate to see you subjected to such affronts, that I have any feeling in the matter at all. Couldn't you have a companion, or something of that sort, if you must come to these places?"
She laughed softly.