"I'm glad to hear it," said she ... "But I 'm afraid I must go on now. Some one is waiting for me outside."
"Oh!--yes, ma'am!"
Kern had risen with her, though she had not learned that from the Netiquette. Much it would have amazed her to know that the heavenly visitor was regarding her with a flickering conviction of inferiority....
"Good-bye, then. I hope you'll soon get your strength back again.... And I'm very glad I saw you."
And then there was her hand held out; not lady to lady, of course, but still her lady's hand. Poor Kern, with her exaltation and her pangs, felt ready to go down on one knee to take it.
"Oh, ma'am!" she stammered. "I'm the glad one ..."
Miss Heth smiled--oh, so sweet, almost like in the Dream--and then it was all over, and she was walking away, with the loveliest rustle ever was. And Kern stood lost in the thronging aisle, staring at the point where she had disappeared and giving little pinches to her thin arm--just to make certain-sure, y' know ...
This till the voice of Miss Whirtle spoke in her ear:
"Say, Kurrin, I like that! Whyn't you ask me to shake hands with your swell dame friend?"
And Miss Heth, out in the crowded street, was heading toward Morland's with an adventurous resolution in her mind.