"You are very preoccupied this evening, and yet you have secured the one man everyone wants to hear," he said. "Are you not satisfied?" His voice had a new tone in it, which made Toney look up wonderingly.
"Oh, yes, I am preoccupied; so would you be if you had conspired tremendously and your conspiracy was no good."
"Indeed!"
"Mr. Hales, help me! Mr. Frank Weston isn't talking one scrap to Jeanie Hamilton."
"He has come to play the violin, and I daresay he is not a good conversationalist."
"It's not that, you don't know her story; he was in love with Jeanie once, and she loved him really, but she sent him away because his father had a shop and sold something, and now she's just frightfully sorry she did it, and—but he doesn't look as if he was forgiving her. What would you do?"
Mr. Hales smiled.
"I should never have hazarded the meeting—never."
"Was I wrong? Oh, but of course she is sorry, and—but I wish they would notice each other. If I were her I should just say I knew I was a born fool when I said no." Mr. Hales laughed.
"I don't think you would ever have said no for that reason!"