And he meant a glance for Miss Agnes, but it lost itself in air, for that young lady was looking down, in a little reverie, on the grass, at the tip of her tiny boot.
"There's old Miss Christian out, I declare!" exclaimed Charity. "Did you ever hear of such a thing? I wonder whether Doctor Lyster knows she is out to-day. I'll just go and speak to her. If he doesn't, I'll simply tell her she is mad!"
And away marched Miss Charity, bent upon finding out, as she said, all about it.
"Agnes," said Tom Sedley, "it seemed to me to-day, you were not glad to see me. Are you vexed with me?"
"Vexed? No, indeed!" she said, gently, and looking up with a smile.
"And your sister said——" Tom paused, for he did not know whether Charity's whisper about her not having been "very strong" might not be a confidence.
"What does Charity say?" asked Agnes, almost sharply, while a little flush appeared in her cheeks.
"Well, she said she did not think you were so strong as usual. That was all."
"That was all—no great consequence," said she, with a little smile upon the grass and sea-pinks—a smile that was bitter.
"You can't think I meant that, little Agnes, I of all people; but I never was good at talking. And you know I did not mean that."