Trent and Boswell being obliged to rise when Miss Decker went forward to meet the newcomers, Severance took the former’s chair, Dedham that of the future statesman.
“You are better?” whispered Severance. “I have been anxious.”
“Oh, I have been worried to death!” murmured Teddy in her other ear. “That wretched doctor had not only moved but gone out of town; and when I came back at last and found—”
“Mr. Severance,” exclaimed Trent, “you have my chair.”
“Is this your chair? You have good taste. A remarkably comfortable chair.”
“You would oblige me—”
“By keeping it? Certainly. You were ever generous, but that I believe is a characteristic of genius.”
“Mrs. Pendleton,” said Boswell, plaintively, “as Mr. Dedham has taken my chair, I will take this stool at your feet.”
Trent was obliged to lean his elbow on the mantelpiece, for want of a better view of Mrs. Pendleton, and Miss Decker sat on the other side of Dedham.
“How are you, Teddy?” she said.