Mrs. Ollnee again replied. "He says: 'Be brave—trust us. We will protect you.'"
Looking across at the girl, in whose cheeks the roses were beginning to bloom again, the youth resented the interposition of the supernatural. He was eager to approach her, to hint at the memory of her secret, sweet embrace. As he studied the exquisite curve of her lips their touch burned again upon his flesh, and he rose with sudden reassertion of himself. "Come, Leo, let's return to Morselli."
He had never called her by her first name before, and it produced a shock in them both. She looked her reproof, but he pretended not to see it, and neither Mrs. Joyce nor Mrs. Ollnee seemed to think his familiarity worthy of remark.
Leo coldly answered: "I can only give a little time. We must go home to-day."
Mrs. Joyce promptly said, "We can't desert the ship now, Leo."
"But we have nothing to wear!" the girl retorted.
"We'll send down and have some things brought up. Really, this work for Mr. Bartol is more important than clothes."
"I suppose it is," Leo admitted. "But at the same time one should have a decent regard to the conventions."
The colloquy which followed filled Victor with dismay. It appeared that Leo was really eager to get away, as if she felt herself to be in a false position. "I can't afford to drop my daily affairs in the city. Why can't these experiments be put off for a day or two."
"I don't think we ought to ask a great and busy lawyer to accommodate himself to our piffling social plans," replied Mrs. Joyce. "A few minutes ago you were wild to join these experiments, now you are crazy to go home."