"I am, fearfully. Come in, come upstairs!"
"Into the Bells' house! I don't want to visit the Bells. Beatrice, you look strange, and oh, how lovely!"
"Don't talk of my looks. Come in, come upstairs. No, you are not to see the Bells, nor are any of them about. Come—come at once."
She ran quickly up the stairs. He followed her, wondering, perplexed and irritated.
"Beatrice, what is the matter?" he said, once.
"Not much—or, rather, yes, everything. Inside that room, Captain Bertram, is one you know. Go and see her—or rather, come and see her, with me. You know her, and once, you were, after your fashion,—a little kind."
Beatrice threw open the door.
"Nina," she said, "Captain Bertram is here,"—then she paused,—her next words came with a visible effort—"And his heart shall choose the girl he loves."
Beatrice walked straight across the room to the window. She heard a cry from Nina, and something between a groan and an exclamation of joy from Bertram.
She did not look round.