"Where is the piece of poetry you talked of?" said Wynslade.
"Here," replied Robertson, showing him the motto—"here it is—read—and confess it to be proof positive."
Wynslade took the slip, and read on it—
"To gain a look of your sweet face,
I'd walk three times round the market-place."
"Ridiculous!" he exclaimed, as he returned the couplet to Robertson, the course of his ideas changing in a moment. The whole affair now appeared to him in so ludicrous a light that he erroneously imagined Selina to have been all the time diverting herself at Mr. Robertson's expense. He looked towards her with a smile of intelligence, and was surprised to find that she had set down her almost untasted ice-cream, and was changing colour, from red to pale, evidently overwhelmed with confusion.
"There," said Robertson, looking significantly from Selina to Wynslade, "I told you so—only see her cheeks. No doubt she has overheard all we have been saying."
Selina had, indeed, overheard the whole; for notwithstanding the talking of the ladies who were near her, her attention had been the whole time riveted to the conversation that was going on between Robertson and Wynslade. Her first impulse was to quit her seat, to go at once to Robertson, and to explain to him his mistake. But she felt the difficulty of making such an effort in a room full of company, and to the youthful simplicity of her mind that difficulty was enhanced by the want of a cent to put into his hand at the same time.
Still, she was so extremely discomfited, that every moment seemed to her an age till she could have an opportunity of undeceiving him. She sat pale and silent till Robertson stepped up and informed her that she seemed quite below par; and Wynslade, who followed him, observed that "Miss Mansel was probably incommoded by the heat of the room."
"Oh, yes!" she exclaimed, scarcely conscious of what she was saying; "it is, indeed, too warm—and here is such a crowd—and I am so fatigued—I wish it were eleven o'clock—I wish my father was here to take me home."
Both gentlemen at once volunteered their services; but Selina, struck with the idea that during their walk she should have a full opportunity of making her explanation to Mr. Robertson, immediately started up, and said she would avail herself of his offer. Robertson now cast a triumphant glance at Wynslade, who returned it with a look of disgust, and walked away, saying to himself, "What an incomprehensible being is woman!—I begin to despise the whole sex!"