“Thank you. But you don’t give him much encouragement to be nice to you, do you?”
“Well, hardly!” answered Anne, holding up her head. “I don’t think it would be very nice if I did, considering that he evidently dislikes me.”
“You’re quite mistaken,” said Lionel in a tone of certainty. “If you did not pretend to ignore him half the time, as you do, you would soon find it out.”
“Nonsense! You might as well say that he likes that dreadful governess!”
“I don’t think Miss Scott at all dreadful,” answered Lionel, in a tone that made his companion look at him quickly. “Her looks are against her, I admit, but I assure you she is a very nice girl.”
“I was only thinking of her looks, of course. And I forgot that you knew her father. What did you say he was?”
She asked the question in a tone of real interest, which was intended as a sort of
“‘I don’t think Miss Scott at all dreadful,’ answered Lionel.”