"I dare say I deserve the rebuke; but aren't you trying to switch me off the subject?" Vane retorted with a laugh. "It's Celia Hartley that I want to talk about."
He did her an injustice. Jessy felt that she had earned his gratitude, and she had no objection to his expressing it.
"It was a happy thought of yours to give her hats and things to make; I'm ever so much obliged to you," he went on. "I felt that you could be trusted to think of the right thing. An ingenious idea of that kind would never have occurred to me."
Jessy smiled up at him.
"It was very simple," she said sweetly. "I noticed a hat and dress of hers, which she admitted she had made. The girl has some talent; I'm only sorry I can't keep her busy."
"Couldn't you give her an order for a dozen hats? I'd be glad to be responsible."
Jessy laughed.
"The difficulty would be the disposal of them. They would be of no use to you; and I couldn't allow you to present them to me."
"I wish I could," Vane declared. "You certainly deserve them."
This was satisfactory, so far as it went, though Jessy would have preferred that his desire to bestow the favor should have sprung from some other motive than a recognition of her services to Celia Hartley. She was, however, convinced that his only feeling toward the girl was one of compassion. Then she saw that he was looking at her with half-humorous annoyance in his face.