A loving look came into Phebe's eyes, as she glanced down at Gerald.
"Miss Vernor, of course", she said, with a very tender inflection of voice. "Being what she is, how can she help being the happier?"
"Virtue advocating vice," said De Forest. "Mr. Halloway, your sermon is a dead failure,—as a sermon."
"By no means," answered Denham, smiling. "I don't expect to convert you in a single lesson. Will you not sit down with us, Miss Phebe? You look tired."
"Not just yet, thank you."
"And why not?" asked Gerald.
"I want to see a little after Miss Delano first. She's off there all alone hunting for ferns."
"Well," persisted Gerald, "what of it? Are you fonder of her society than ours, that you must run after her?"
"I am not fonder of any one's society than of yours, Gerald."
"But are you fond of that tiresome creature at all? Confess it; doesn't she bore you to death with her interminable grasshopper chatter?"