“You are entirely mistaken. I don’t want you to say anything to Jack; after the way he has treated me, I have too much pride to raise a finger to bring him back. I only thought that, as you are a friend of his, you might like to warn him that there are others who appreciate me, if he does not.”
“B—but I rather fancy that he will expect—er some kind of an explanation of the—the occurrence at your house last week. Suppose I just say—”
“Well, then, all I’ve got to say is, that if Jack Bittersweet is too stupid to understand a simple accident, I don’t care if he never speaks to me again. Clarence Lighthed is one of the very nicest fellows I ever knew, and I am one of the hap—happiest girls in the world. Don’t look at me as if you thought I was crying! I am not—and if I was, it would be out of p—pure joy!”
Chapter VIII
An Executive Meeting
“Why, Frances, is that you? And on your way to the Club, too,” cried the blue-eyed girl, as she caught up with the brown-eyed blonde, “how lucky I am; I shall have a nice long talk with you as we go along! How well you are looking to-day, quite fresh, I declare! Dear me, I should have put on my gloves before I left home, but I was in such haste that—”
“By the way, Dorothy, it seems to me that you are not wearing as many rings as usual this winter. Surely, I miss the diamond you used to wear!”
“Why, no I’m not; so much jewelry is always vulgar, and rings are so hard on one’s gloves. Mercy, we have walked a whole block, and you haven’t told me a bit of news!”
“Haven’t I? By the way, I heard Ja—a man I know, say something about you yesterday which was quite a surprise. I don’t really know whether I ought to repeat it, or not.”