I disengaged my hands from the shawl I was shrouded in, and, overwhelmed by a sense of my new responsibility, did as I was told without a word. And, as there was not much steering required, I fell to thinking of Laurence. I had had to talk a great deal during the last two days; but whenever I was not talking my thoughts flew back at once to him, as they did now.
“You are not thinking of me,” said Mr. Carruthers quietly.
I started, blushed, and pulled the wrong line at once.
“Never mind,” said he meekly—“only it’s ungrateful. He isn’t half so much absorbed in you as I am.”
“Absorbed in me! I was thinking of—of Mrs. Manners.”
“Happy Mrs. Manners, to be able to call up such a smile of beatitude on the face of a beautiful girl!”
“Who did you think it was, Mr. Carruthers?”
“If I tell you, you will upset me, or command me to land you at once.”
“No, I won’t. And you wouldn’t pay any attention if I did.”
“Let me come and sit by you, and I’ll tell you. We can drift.”