"Yes, Cornelius."
"Then answer, child."
I did not; he looked astonished.
"Answer," he said again.
I felt myself turning red and pale, but to tell him I was jealous of Miriam Russell! no, I could not; the confession was too bitter, too humiliating.
"Daisy," he said, "I shall get angry."
I stood by him obstinately mute. I looked up at him with a dreary, sorrowful gaze; he frowned and bit his lip. I summoned all my courage to bear his coming wrath; to my dismay he chucked my chin, and said with careless good humour—
"As if I should not be fond of you all the same, you jealous little thing!"
And with the smile which he no longer repressed he turned away whistling "Love's young dream." Vexed and mortified to the quick, I burst into tears; Cornelius turned round and showed me an astonished face.
"Nonsense!" he exclaimed, laughing incredulously, "you never can be crying, Daisy!"