Beatrice felt desperate. She must make this kind, gentle old man understand that she had not been selling his gift for a mean, selfish reason; yet how was she to do so? It was unkind to keep him standing in that bleak place any longer, nor did she wish to visit any more stores in his company.
“Yes; I do want to tell you about it. I would be glad to talk with you about everything; but where can I? Will you go back to my mother’s house with me? Or where can I go with you?”
“My child, do not distress yourself about these trumpery posies. They were yours. You had a perfect right to do with them as you chose.”
“But I want to explain. I am not so mean as you think me, and yet I am a great deal worse. I played truant to-day, like a bad little boy, and persuaded Robert to do the same. My poor mother knows nothing about this affair, and she will be mortified when she hears. Besides, I would like to ask your advice, somebody’s advice anyway, and you say you were grandfather’s friend. I—”
“Wait a moment, my dear. Have you had your dinner yet?” Mr. Brook glanced from the sister to the brother, as he spoke, and the brightening of Robert’s black eyes was sufficient answer.
“No, sir. But we will get that as soon as we get home.”
“Then I have it! Let us take a carriage down to my hotel, where I am sure of being served as I like, and you two take dinner with me there. Then we can have ample time to talk, as well as a comfortable place to do it in. Will you? What do you say, Robert?”
“I say yes an’ thank you,” answered the child promptly, and with more civility than might have been expected.
“I do not like to give you that trouble and—and expense,” said Bonny naïvely, alert as poverty had made her to the value of money. “Besides, we should be going home soon.”
“If you have played truant for a little while, you may as well continue a bit longer. I am as anxious to talk with you as you can possibly be with me, and I will be responsible to your mother for this added delay; that is, if you are not positively needed at home.”