“I ’ll join you bye and bye,” said the General, taking leave.
“Now isn’t he a dear old Papa?” she said demurely.
“He certainly knows how to make a timid young man feel at home.”
“Are you timid?”
“Hadn’t you noticed it?”
“Well, hardly.” She shook her head and closed her eyes in the most tantalising way. “To see the cool insolence of conscious power with which you looked that great crowd in the face when you arose on that platform, I shouldn’t say I was struck with your timidity.”
“I was really trembling from head to foot.”
“I wonder how you would look if really cool!”
“Honestly, Miss Sallie, I never speak to any crowd without the intensest nervous excitement. I may put on a brave front, but it’s all on the surface.”
“I can’t believe it,” she said shaking her head.