He uttered an impatient exclamation under his breath.
"Let's sit down on the staircase," she pleaded, "I'm warmer now. I think this would be a nice place to sit down."
She sank down on one of the broad, low steps just below the landing, and pulled him down, nestling up close to him. "Oh, Bill," she whispered, "it is a comfort to be with you—a real comfort. You don't know what I've gone through since I came up to bed. I felt all the time as if Something was trying to get at me—something cruel, revengeful, miserable!"
"You ate too much at dinner," he said shortly. "You oughtn't to have taken that brandy-cherries ice."
They had very soon got past the stage during which Donnington had tried to say pretty things to Bubbles.
"Perhaps I did"—he felt the gurgle of amusement in her voice. "I was very hungry, and the food here is very good. It must be costing a lot of money—all this sort of thing. How nice to be rich! Oh, Bill, how very nice to be rich!"
"I don't agree," he said sharply. "Varick doesn't look particularly happy, that I can see."
"I wonder if Aunt Blanche would marry him now?"
"I don't suppose he'd give her the chance—now."
It wasn't a very chivalrous thing to say, or hear said, and Bubbles pinched him so viciously that he nearly cried out.