He sulkily repeated the formula.
“Now we’re engaged,” said Lee complacently; “and the popper’s burnt up. But we’ve got a lot popped, and I’ll make a syrup and stick some together into a nice ball for you. It’s lovely to eat when you’re in bed.” She leaned forward and adjusted his agitated necktie. “You look as if you just owned the whole world when you get mad,” she said.
And the male ate his sweets and was pacified.
CHAPTER IX
THE tide in Mrs. Tarleton rose once more; on Monday she was able to sit up, and Cecil took Lee for a walk; but returned betimes, having received a brief parental admonition that if he did not, he’d be caned. After that, they explored Market Street every afternoon, and on Sunday trotted off to church together.
On the following afternoon, as Lee was walking down the hill from school, she saw an excited group of boys in the street, before the side entrance of Mrs. Hayne’s boarding-house. As she approached, she inferred that two were fighting, as some eight or ten others were cheering and betting.
Lee raised herself on tiptoe and looked over the shoulder of a short boy. The belligerents were Bertie Reynolds and Cecil Maundrell. Her first impulse was to scream—an impulse which she quickly repressed. Her second was to cheer Cecil. This she also repressed, remembering that she was a girl, or, as her mother would have put it, a Southerner.
She mounted a box and watched the battle, her hands clenched, her eyes blazing, her heart sick; for her Cecil was getting the worst of it. He looked as sturdy as a little oak, and he planted his blows scientifically; but his antagonist was twice his size, lean and wiry, and full of nervous fire. Moreover, the surrounding influences were all for the American: Cecil was not only English, but he had snubbed these boys of Mrs. Hayne’s boarding-house for three consecutive weeks. Vengeance had been in the air for some time.
The boys fought like young savages. Their faces made Lee shudder and ponder. But that impression passed, for there was worse to come. Cecil got a huge lump over his right eye. Cecil got a damaged nose. Cecil’s immaculate shirt turned an angry scarlet. Cecil got a blow under his jaw, and went down.
Then was Lee’s opportunity. She leaped from the box, straight into the ring—which was giving unearthly cat-calls—and took Cecil’s head in her arms.