"Is it wet?" asked Belle, in alarm, glancing down at her delicate slipper. She then added, in a provoked tone, "I should have thought you would have known better than to bring us this way. I shan't go across."
"Then you can go back," said the pert Fanny; "nobody cares."
"It was not my proposition," remarked Gertrude, mildly, though with a heightened colour; "but I think I can help you through the difficulty. Mrs. Graham was afraid you had worn thin shoes, and I brought you a pair of india-rubbers."
Belle took them, and, without the grace to express any thanks, said, as she unfolded the paper in which they were wrapped, "Whose are they?"
"Mine," replied Gertrude.
"I don't believe I can keep them on," muttered Belle; "they'll be immense, I suppose."
"Allow me," said the lieutenant; and, taking one of the shoes, he stooped to place it on her foot, but found it difficult to do so, as it was too small. Belle, perceiving it, bent down to perform, the office for herself, and treated Gertrude's property with such angry violence that she snapped the strap which passed across the instep, and even then only succeeded in partially forcing her foot into the shoe.
Meantime, as she bent forward, Fanny's attention was attracted by a very tasteful broad-brimmed hat, which she wore jauntily on one side of her head, and which Fanny recognised as Gertrude's. It was a somewhat fanciful article of dress, that Gertrude would hardly have thought of purchasing for herself, but which Mr. Graham had brought home to her the previous summer to replace a common garden hat which he had accidentally crushed. As the style of it was simple and in good taste, she had been in the habit of wearing it often in her country walks, and kept it hung in the closet, where it had been found and appropriated by Belle. It had been seen by Fanny in Gertrude's room at Mrs. Warren's; she had also been permitted to wear it on one occasion, when she took part in a charade. Having heard Gertrude say it was missing, she was astonished to see it adorning Belle; and, as she stood behind her, made signs to Gertrude, and performed a series of pantomimic gestures expressive of an intention to snatch it from Miss Clinton's head, and place it on that of its rightful owner.
Gertrude's gravity nearly gave way. She shook her head at Fanny, held up her finger, made signs to her to forbear, and, with a face whose laughter was only concealed by the deep white bonnet which she wore, took her hand, and hastened with her along the path, leaving Belle and her beau to follow.
"Fanny," said she, "you must not make me laugh so; if Miss Clinton had seen us she would have been very much hurt."