“Oh!” the girl exclaimed.
The tone was a commingling of surprise, consternation and half disappointment.
Larry reddened, and an embarrassing pause ensued.
“I see you have heard of me,” he remarked lamely. “I saw you several years ago.”
“Yes-s,” the girl said hesitatingly. “I have heard Harry speak of you. I remember seeing you—at a baseball game, but you have grown so I did not recognize you.”
“Your cousin and I have not been—well, friends,” he remarked. “So I suppose you have not heard much good concerning me.”
“Oh, as for that,” she said smiling, “Harry and I are not friends either. He is a bear and he treats me as if I were still a child.”
“I do not see why we should be enemies, just because our families are,” remarked Larry, feeling as if he had turned traitor to Major Lawrence when he said it. “It is not our quarrel.”
“No,” she said doubtfully. “You do not seem a bit as Harry said you were. I expect he just told those horrid stories about you because he does not like you.”
“I’m sorry he chooses me as an enemy,” said Larry, remembering Krag’s advice and striving not to permit his temper to be ruffled.