He paused for an instant to gaze at his mistress. Then receiving her silent permission, he started a pilgrimage about the room.
Nona shrank behind the smaller Barbara, for in spite of her usual bravery she had a nervous fear of dogs. However, this great Dane was not to be feared by guests inside his own domain. As he padded from one visitor to the other it was plain that he was greeting each one of them in turn. Mildred came first and was allowed to lay her hand on his head, then Nona and Barbara. Afterwards the dog moved toward Eugenia. Within a few feet of her he paused, his ears and tail visibly drooping, and turned imploring eyes upon his young master.
Whatever the signal that passed between them, the next moment the splendid creature sank down at Eugenia’s feet, burying his head between his forepaws. His whole attitude indicated a prayer for pardon.
Immediately after Captain Castaigne got up and walked over toward Eugenia. He stood silent for half a moment, evidently hoping that she might relax from her severity.
Never in his life had he met such an extraordinary and difficult young woman! As he had been under the same impression five minutes after their introduction in Paris, why should Fate be so unkind as to cause them to see each other again? And then to place him in such an awkward position as he now found himself!
“I owe you ten thousand pardons, Mademoiselle. Ah, more than that, for I consider my own act unpardonable!” he exclaimed. “Until you spoke I had been hoping that I might be mistaken, and that it was not you whom I caused to suffer the other evening.”
The young Frenchman cast his eyes imploringly toward Eugenia, clasping his hands together in a dramatic fashion.
If only Eugenia had been able to smile at this moment, how much simpler the future would have been! But remember, Eugenia had a Puritan conscience, and a Puritan conscience often exacts its pound of flesh in payment for sins from other people as well as from itself. Moreover, Eugenia disliked Captain Castaigne’s manners and appearance intensely. To her he appeared theatrical and insincere. A simple, straightforward American apology she believed she would have accepted at once. But this young aristocrat with his too perfect features and physique must suffer for his offense. No doubt the other girls would have forgiven him. He looked like the type of man most women would deal gently with, so Eugenia felt it would undoubtedly be good for him to be snubbed by her.
As she now stared severely at the young Frenchman in answer to his pleading, she looked like all the Pilgrim fathers’ portraits that hang on old New England family walls melted together into one face. Of course, he did not understand her in the least. Lieutenant Hume had explained that the Miss Peabody he had met in Paris was an old maid from Boston. But this conveyed nothing to Captain Castaigne’s mind. Old maids in France were not in the least like this young woman and he had a very vague idea of where Boston was and of what the city could be like. However, he did know that he had offended against a Frenchman’s and an officer’s code of manners and was therefore willing to make any possible apology.
“You will understand that not only did I not know you: I did not realize that you were a woman or I should never have sent my dog to interrupt you. Why, why did you not halt when I called out to you? If only you had given one little sign, made the least sound! I thought I should have fainted when I beheld a figure upon the ground and in the uniform of a Red Cross nurse, the uniform I respect most in all the world.”