Miss Hadley was in the drawing-room, and she received him this time with an evident embarrassment and hesitation which he attributed to her lingering resentment at his former urgency. But he had already taken her measure. She was one of the people who must never be allowed to exercise free will. She needed a master to keep her from making a fool of herself. He determined at once to assume what he wanted her to believe.
"I have just been to see Mr. Underwood," he said. "He is a fine fellow,--but you found that out before the rest of the town did! However, everybody will know it one of these days. We are going to have all this misunderstanding and mystery cleared up, and you will have a chance to be proud of him publicly. But just now, while he is so unhappy, you must help to cheer him up. Don't you think you might go and see him and tell him that you believe in him? It would mean a great deal to him. You would seem like an angel of mercy to him."
He had talked rapidly, pressing his plan with a sort of urgency that he would never have dared to use, for instance, with Leslie Underwood. Almost he assumed that she would have no opinion to offer if only he didn't give her time to consider! But she drew away from him with a look of absolute dismay that was not in the character he had outlined for her.
"I couldn't think of it,--not at all," she stammered.
"But you know you are engaged--"
"Oh, no!" she gasped.
"Well, practically you are," he persisted calmly.
"And you know that it would mean more to him--"
"I don't know what you mean at all," she exclaimed desperately, and unconsciously she glanced at the drawn curtains that separated the drawing-room from a room in the rear.
Burton bit his lip. He certainly had been rashly foolish to assume that he was speaking tête-à-tête with Miss Hadley. Who was in the back room? Her father? If he understood Mr. Hadley's temperament, he would have burst into the room to demand an explanation by this time. Could it possibly be Selby who was eavesdropping? If it were, he would give him something for his pains!