"Papa has been looking for you," Miss Granger replied, with unrelenting stiffness.—"How do you do, Mr. Fairfax?" shaking hands with him in a frigid manner.—"He quite lost the last race. When I saw that he was growing really anxious, I suggested that he should go one way, and I the other, in search of you. That is what brought me here."
It was as much as to say, Pray understand that I have no personal interest in your movements.
"And yet I have not been so very long away," Clarissa said, with a deprecating smile.
"You may not have been conscious of the lapse of time You have been long. You said you would go and rest for a quarter of an hour or so; and you have been resting more than an hour."
"I don't remember saying that; but you are always so correct, Sophia."
"I make a point of being exact in small things. We had better go round the garden to look for papa.—Good-afternoon, Mr. Fairfax."
"Good-afternoon, Miss Granger."
George Fairfax shook hands with Clarissa.
"Good-bye, Mrs. Granger."
That was all, but the words were accompanied by a look and a pressure of the hand that brought the warm blood into Clarissa's cheeks. She had made for herself that worst enemy a woman can have—a disappointed lover.