She therefore took the first opportunity to speak to him when Jim was not present.
“Ted,” she began, “won’t you come a ride with us to-morrow? I wish you would.”
“Oh, you won’t want me!” the ensign ungraciously replied. “I shall only be in the way.”
“But we do want you, really. Jim came here to see you, and it seems horrid of me to monopolize him as I have been doing, when you ought to have the first claim. You know,” she continued with a sparkle of fun in her eyes, “that one can’t help falling in love, so you must not be too hard on us. You and I are to be brother and sister, and I do want us to be good friends, and I wish to know you better, Ted. Do join us to-morrow!”
“Would you really like me to?”
“I should, honestly. You’ll come, won’t you?”
“Thank you very much, Ethel,—only I don’t want to be a nuisance.”
“And I don’t wish you to think me a nuisance. Thank you, Ted; it’s very decent of you to come.”
When she had gone, Ted was undecided whether to be pleased or not. In common with many others he found a certain unhealthy enjoyment in cherishing a grievance. Our hero was a good specimen of the type of boy from whose ranks the British ensign was recruited. Rather tall for his age, he was well built and proportioned, not weedy; fairly good-looking, though by no means handsome, with honest eyes that could look one straight in the face. A good athlete and gymnast, he had been regarded as the strongest forward in the school fifteen. He was also a good bowler, and the best outfield in the school, though he did not shine with the bat. His intellectual attainments had perhaps been less striking, though no one had ever classed him as a “duffer”. Many a scrape had he been in, and many a punishment had he received, and he had never tried to clear himself by means of a lie.
Being therefore a healthy-minded boy, he saw clearly, when Miss Woodburn had left him, that his fit of sulks and jealousy had been rather foolish, and that his grievances against her were imaginary. No one likes to appear a fool even to one’s self, so, not unnaturally, false pride set to work to seek excuses for his conduct, and when the time came to join them, he was still undecided, and almost ready to take the first opportunity to desert them.