Ada shrunk from his touch, and rising with an innocent dignity, that appalled for a moment the fine gentleman, she said—
“I do not know you, sir,” and walked onwards, leaving him the questionable credit of having turned her out of the seat.
“Charming! charming!” she heard him say, after a few moments, as he pursued her along the Mall.
Ada was excessively annoyed at this most disagreeable intrusion, and she quickened her pace in the hope of distancing the gallant; such, however, was not the event, for he was nearly close to her when she arrived at the next seat, which was occupied but by one gentleman, who was reading a book.
“One stranger,” thought Ada, “may protect me from the insults of another,” and she paused close to the seat on which was the gentleman reading.
“’Pon honour,” cried the beau who had followed her; “you walk most vulgarly fast. Ah! Ah! Really now, a delicious little creature like you ought to glide, not walk—to glide—positively glide. Ah! Ah! That would be delicious.”
The gentleman who was reading looked up, his eyes met Ada’s.
“Harry!” he cried.
“Albert!” she replied, and bursting into tears, she clung convulsively to the arms of Albert Seyton.