She trembled violently. "Please do not look at me so," she said, falteringly. "I cannot endure it. Pity my weakness."
His hand tightened in its warm grasp, and the expression of his face grew more ardent.
She looked up with a sudden flash in her eyes, and said, almost sternly:
"You must not look at me in that way, or else even friendship will be impossible and we must become strangers. Perhaps, after all, this will be the wisest course for us both," she added, in a gentler tone.
He dropped her hand, but said firmly, "No, Miss Jennie, you have given me the right to call you my friend, and I have seen friendship in your eyes, and friends at least we shall be till the end of time. I shall not say good-night. I shall not let you go away and brood by yourself. I have learned that cheering others is the very elixir of your life; so, come into the parlor. I will find Stanton and our friend with the soprano voice, and the guests of the house shall again bless the stars that sent you to us, as I do daily."
She smiled faintly and said:
"I'll join you there after a little while," and she flitted out into the darkening hall-way, and sought her room by a side stair.
A few moments later Stanton, finding the object of his thoughts did not appear among the guests who sought to escape the sultriness of the evening on the wide piazzas or in the large, spacious parlor, began to wander restlessly in a half-unconscious search. A servant was just lighting the gas in the small and remote reception-room as he glanced in. The apartment was empty, and no echoes of the words just spoken were lingering.
A little later Miss Burton came down the main stair-way in her breezy, cheery manner, and his jealous fears were quieted.
He joined her at once, saying that it was the unanimous wish that she should give them some music again that evening.