And then he entered his house and almost walked into the arms of Mrs. Abington, who was waiting for him on the first lobby.
“Oh, Dick, Dick! safe—safe! Thank Heaven!” she cried, putting out both her hands to him and catching him by the arms.
Her form of greeting him had about it more than the suggestion of a clasp.
CHAPTER XXII
He was not angry—what was there to be angry about? The greeting of a beautiful woman (with the suggestion of a clasp) when one expects to meet only a sister may contain the elements of surprise, but rarely those of vexation.
Dick was surprised—in fact, he was slightly alarmed, but he retained his self-possession.
“Safe?” he cried. “Why should not I be safe, unless”—he recollected that not half an hour before he had been greeted by a lady with the same word, and he had replied to it with great glibness: could he do better than repeat himself? He thought not—unless—— “Ah, madam, what man is safe when such beauty——”
“Do not talk to me in that way. Is this a time for compliments—empty—obvious—odious?” she cried, loosing his arms with such suddenness as almost to suggest flinging them from her.