"How d'ye mean—'pay her attentions'?"
"That was what we heard sister Sophia say," they replied, pursing up their little lips. They knew perfectly well what the phrase meant, but they were not going to confess it. The arts of those who are on the whole artless are very pretty.
"Say, d'ye think Miss White's got the least bit of a heart about her anywheres?"
"We don't know exactly what you mean"—with dignity—"but one of the ladies who boards at the hotel told mamma that Eliza always behaves admirably'; that's part of the reason we're having her to tea."
"Did she, though? If having about as much feeling as this fence has is such fine behaviour—!" He stopped, apparently not knowing exactly how to end his sentence.
The girls began to recede. The grass grew so thin and dry that they did little harm by passing through it. It sprang up in front of their feet as they moved backwards in their white dresses. All colour had passed from the earth. The ripple of the river and the cry of the whip-poor-will rose amid the murmur of the night insects.
"Do you sometimes come down here of an evening?" asked the young man.
"At sunset it's real pleasant."
"Sometimes," answered Blue. Her soft voice only just reached him.
CHAPTER XV.
So the days wore on till August. One morning Cyril Harkness lay in wait for Eliza. It was early; none of the boarders at the hotel were down yet. Eliza, who was always about in very good time, found him in the corridor on the first floor. He did not often attempt to speak to her now.