“Good heavens, Totty, you must not think of it! You do not mean to say you have been waiting here only on my account?”
Totty Trimm hesitated, withdrew one tiny foot, of which the point had projected beyond the skirt of her tea-gown, and then put out the other and looked at it curiously. They were both so small and pointed that George could not have told which was the right and which the left. She hesitated because she had not anticipated the question. George was not like other men. He would not be flattered by merely being informed that the whole Sherrington Trimm establishment had been kept up a month beyond the usual time, on a war footing, as it were, for his sole and express benefit. Most men would be pleased at being considered of enough importance to be told such a thing, though they might not believe the statement altogether. It was necessary that George should know that Totty was speaking the truth, if she answered his question directly. She hesitated and looked at the point of her little slipper.
“What does it matter?” she asked, suddenly, looking up and smiling at him affectionately.
It was very well done. The strongest asseverations could not have expressed more clearly her readiness to sacrifice everything she could to his comfort. George was touched.
“You have been very good to me, Totty. I cannot thank you enough.” He took her hand and pressed it warmly.
“What is the use of having friends unless they will stand by you?” she asked, returning the pressure, while her face grew grave and sad.
Since she had written her first note after his disappointment, she had never referred to his troubles. He had answered her on that occasion as he answered every one, by saying that there had never been any engagement, and he had marvelled at her exceeding tact in avoiding the subject ever since. Her reference to it now, however, seemed natural, and did not hurt him.
“You have been more than a friend to me,” he answered. “I feel as though you were my sister—only, if you were, I suppose I should be less grateful.”
“No, you would not,” said Totty with a smile of genuine pleasure produced of course by the success of her operations. “Do you want to do something to please me? Something to show your gratitude?”
“Whatever I can——”