“And yet what?”
“I’m jealous.”
“Are you? For shame, for shame! Can’t you trust me?”
“I will say yes, of course, but——”
“But you mean no. Well, I can promise not to break your heart.”
And he laughed at her and teased her, and told her that Mrs. Dale was too well off to trouble her head about a poor lieutenant.
But Mabin was only half comforted; she remembered how well they had got on together on that memorable evening when a misunderstanding had caused her to sulk, and she was too diffident to believe that her own charms could compete with brilliant Mrs. Dale’s.
As soon as they came out of the plantation, and within sight of the house, they saw across the lawn the young housemaid, Annie, shading her eyes with her hand, as if watching for some one. Mabin, thinking the girl was looking out for her, sprang away from Rudolph, calling out a last “Good-by” as she hurried over the lawn.
“Tell Mrs. Dale that I am coming to call upon her this afternoon, to ask her to give me some tea. And please remind her that she promised me peaches next time I came,” called out Rudolph after her as she ran.
Mabin merely waved her hand to imply that she heard, and ran on toward the house. Annie, instead of retreating into the hall at the approach of the young lady, stepped out into the garden. And when Rudolph, after skirting the plantation, reached the gravelled space on his way to the gate, he found the young housemaid holding it open for him. He saw, before he came up, by the girl’s look and manner that she had something to say to him.