Apologies on both sides, with a good deal of laughing on the lady's part, followed. Grace came forward, and a few words were exchanged, during which Barham took off his hat and walked away, to Miss Ballinger's surprise—perhaps, it may be said, to her annoyance.
"Who is your friend whom I so unceremoniously embraced?" asked Mrs. Courtly, in her low, musical voice. "Why is he gone away? I am so sorry to have interrupted your walk."
"If he had wished, I suppose, he would have stayed. He is a professor from Harvard University; his name is Barham."
"Really? I never heard of him, and I have so many friends at Harvard. My home in Massachusetts is not so very far distant. He is very good-looking; is he clever?"
"Certainly; but not much of a society man. He suffers from a form of shyness which I suppose is not common in the States—a dread of being thought forward, pushing. I am sure that is why he beat a retreat."
"How very singular! It was I who was forward and pushing!" Here she laughed softly. "You must present him formally to me; I shall be delighted to make his acquaintance; I love to gather round me all that is best worth knowing. By the way, your brother has been promising to bring you to stay with me. I am within easy reach of Boston. I hope you won't object."
"You are very good; it sounds delightful. I have always looked forward to seeing Boston, and I hope my brother will go there. I have heard there is nothing like Boston society."
"You must not expect the magnificence of New York. We New-Englanders live much more simply; but there is a pleasant mixture of the grave and the gay. I am reproached with being too gay—too frivolous for my years. But my principle is to enjoy everything as long as I can, to live and to let live. And so I get a great deal of pleasure out of existence."
She said this in a low, cooing voice that was wonderfully persuasive.
"And confer a great deal," rejoined Grace. "Most people get so soon blasés, it is refreshing to find any one who retains youthfulness of spirit into middle age. But, then, you have a wonderful variety of interests in life, I am told."