Margaret was aroused by a voice at her elbow saying a little nervously:
"Can I speak to you, Miss Woodford?"
"Oh, it's Bob! Certainly!" she answered, an inviting ring in her voice.
"I—I'm awfully sorry about last night—I want you—to—know," he said hesitatingly, his face crimson with shame. "Will you try to—to forget it?" he stammered.
"Why, of course!" answered Margaret. "I shall never think of it again."
"I feel such a beastly cad," he finished.
"Well, for the future remember you are a gentleman, Bob, and that 'manners makyth man,' and you will find it easier to behave as one. And shall we make up our minds to be friends?" she added, holding out her hand with a winning smile. "Come, what do you say?"
"Rather!" answered the boy, and then, breaking away, rushed with lightning speed to the house.
Later in the day Margaret came upon the young people uninterestedly turning over the leaves of story-books, weary of themselves and each other, and not on speaking terms. She had appeared upon the scene at the close of a heated argument, in which Ellice considered Bob had turned traitor by taking up the cudgels on Margaret's behalf.
When he left her so hurriedly in the morning, Margaret hoped she had gained ground with him; but she little knew that the interview meant a big victory, and that Bob Medhurst's allegiance was won for all time.