“You silly, silly thing,” she whispered, in the seclusion of her nun’s cell, “you’re glad to see him when you’re not sure he’s glad to see you. Don’t try to deny it, because it’s true. But don’t you dare to let him know it. When he says he’s sorry he was so horrid you can decide what to say, but not before. I hope you’ve got pride enough to be a man-hater as long as he is a woman-hater.”
Having relieved her mind to this extent, Babe went to find Betty and told her about John.
“I rely on you to stick by me,” she said. “The others will all try to leave us alone together, and that’s just what I don’t want. It’s queer how easy it is to tell you things, Betty. I suppose that’s one reason why Mr. Morton calls you Miss B. A.”
CHAPTER XVI
THE PROGRESS OF ROMANCE
When Babe and Betty joined the others, they found them still talking about Mr. Trevelyan.
“Do you think now that he’s an authority on sheep-raising in Australia?” inquired Babe blandly of John.
John flushed a little. “No, I don’t believe I care to use his letters of introduction.” He produced a bulky packet. “His friends would probably give me the same sort of send-off that he gave Billy. I suppose Billy told you that I’d consulted him about chances out there,” John added, looking inquiringly around the circle.
“But you weren’t serious about going, were you?” demanded Madeline incredulously.
“I certainly was,” returned John in his stiffest manner, and Babe’s little proud face hardened. He wasn’t sorry that he had been disagreeable; he was just giving up Australia because Mr. Trevelyan had proved unreliable.
After breakfast Mr. Dwight suggested that they should all go and inspect the Pantheon, which was so near by that the girls, thinking they could go there “any time,” hadn’t yet been to see it. As they started off across the court Mr. Dwight happened to engage Betty’s attention, and Madeline and Babbie marched off arm in arm, leaving Babe and John together.