"Will you be my partner?"
"When they make up a fresh set I will, with pleasure; although," she added, looking down at her long dress, "I did not expect to play to-night, and did not dress for it."
"Thank goodness. I hate tennis dresses. All girls should wear trains."
Beatrice raised her bright eyes to his face. Their open expression said plainly, "It is a matter of indifference to me what you think about my dress." Aloud she said:
"What have you done with my friends, the Bells?"
"I am afraid, Miss Meadowsweet, that long intercourse with those young ladies would be too severe a strain on my intellect."
"Captain Bertram, you don't mean what you are saying."
"I do, on my honor. They are too intellectual for me."
"They are not! You are laughing at them."
Beatrice stepped back a pace, and looked at him with a heightened color coming into her face.