"Am I one of 'the rest'?" he inquired, the first time he found himself alone with her. He was sufficiently piqued to forget his usual hauteur and discretion.
"Would you like to be?" she said.
"Oh! Very much—very much—naturally," he replied severely.
They were standing near a rose-bush in the garden; and she plucked a rose, and regarded it with deep interest.
"Well," she said, next, "I must say I think I shouldn't have had such a good time if you hadn't been here. You have made it livelier."
"Tha-anks," he remarked. "You are most kind."
"Oh!" she answered, "it's true. If it wasn't, I shouldn't say it. You and Mr. Burmistone and Mr. Poppleton have certainly made it livelier."
He went home in such a bad humor that his host, who was rather happier than usual, commented upon his grave aspect at dinner.
"You look as if you had heard ill news, old fellow," he said. "What's up?"
"Oh, nothing!" he was answered sardonically; "nothing whatever—unless that I have been rather snubbed by a young lady from Nevada."