Louis was to come on the first of July, his mother not deeming it advisable for him to study through that month; but Mr. Benton preceded him and came the first day of June. It was a royal day, and he entered the door while the purplish tinge of sunset covered the hills and lay athwart the doorway.
"Home again," was his first salutation.
"Very welcome," said Hal and father; mother met him cordially, and I came after them with Clara at my side, and only said:
"How do you do, Mr. Benton?"
He grasped my hand and held it for an instant in a vice-like grasp. I darted a look of reproof at him, and the abused look he wore at our last talk came back and settled on his features.
It seemed to me the more I tried to keep out of his way the more fate would compel me to go near him. Hal was very busy, and it seemed as if Clara had never spent so much time in her own room as now, when I needed her so much. Mother was not well, and every afternoon took a long nap, so I was left down stairs, and no matter which side of the house I was in he was sure to find me. The third day after his arrival he renewed his pleading, trying first to compliment me, saying:
"What a royal woman you are, and how queenly you look with your massive braids of midnight hair fastened with such an exquisite comb!" (Louis' gift).
"Midnight hair," I said. "I've seen many a midnight when I could read in its moonlight; black as a crow would be nearer the truth," and I laughed.
The next sentence was addressed to my teeth. He liked to see me laugh and show my teeth; they looked like pearls.
"I wish they were," I said, "I'd sell them and buy a nice little house for poor Matthias to live in."