Alice pouted. "But I want them now; they will be all over by the time the boats are in use."
Edgar looked at her. "Do you really care very much about them?" he asked.
"Of course I do," replied Alice. "They are my favourite flowers, and I want some dreadfully."
"Then you shall have some," said Edgar quietly, walking off in the direction of the lilies, round the end of the pool.
Paul's brow grew very black. "Don't be a fool, Edgar!" he cried roughly. "That bank really is not safe; and a girl's whim is not worth the price of a wetting, especially to a delicate fellow like you. Alice, what are you thinking of? Tell him at once he is not to go."
But Alice's usually equable temper was so ruffled by Paul's brusqueness, and she would not do as he bade her.
"Alice, don't you hear what I am saying? Tell him that he is not to go," repeated Paul.
But Alice's gentle spirit was so sore from the effect of Paul's indifference to her, that she shut her pretty mouth obstinately and would not interfere.
"If Paul is so horrid to me he shall see that other men admire me," she said to herself; "and that will add to my importance in his eyes."
Finding that Alice was obdurate, Paul ran after Edgar to endeavour to dissuade him from so foolhardy an attempt; but before he reached him, Edgar was half-way down the slippery bank.