‘Yes, you are. I won’t say another word.’
‘Oh, Miss Mowbray! How can you think I am offended? What have I said to make you fancy such a thing? On the contrary, I think it so very, very good of you to take so much interest——’
Here Alec stopped, for he saw that his companion was blushing, and that somehow he had made a mess of things. He had not yet learned that some species of gratitude cannot find fitting expression in words.
‘I think it is my turn to say that I have offended you,’ he said after a pause.
Laura laughed—such a pleasant, rippling laugh!
‘It is getting quite too involved. Let us pass an Act of Oblivion, and forget all about it.’
‘But if you think I ought to call on my uncle,’ began Alec—‘no; don’t shake your head. Tell me what you really think I ought to do.’
‘Do you like Miss Lindsay?’ asked Laura, without replying to the question.
‘Aunt Jean? Yes; much better than I like Uncle James.’
‘Then you can go to see her now and then; and when you are in the house go into your uncle’s room and ask how he is, if he is at home. We ought not only to visit people for our own pleasure, but sometimes because it is our duty to do so.’