Who the Hansford girl was the young lady didn’t know, but she watched her as she came up with Paul, who did not at first see Clarice. When he did he went to her, apologizing for being late and saying: “I have brought Miss Hansford with me.”
Clarice bowed stiffly, but did not speak. She was taking in every detail of Elithe’s dress, and wondering at the transformation and hating her for the attention she was attracting. Paul introduced her to those who were not playing, all of whom received her cordially and wondered they had never met her before. The young men especially vied with each other in their attentions to her. At least half a dozen urged her to play, and offered to teach her. She ought to be in the club, they said, and they would propose her name at once if she wished it. Elithe possessed the talent of adaptability to a great extent, and, although this was her first introduction to Oak City’s Four Hundred, she was wholly self-possessed, and received the attention paid her as if she had been accustomed to it all her life. She was fond of society, but had seen little of it since coming to Oak City, and it was very pleasant to find herself the centre of attraction, and to hear so many express their pleasure at meeting her. Before she quite realized it, she was trying her hand at the game, proving an apt scholar and never making a move which was not graceful and lady-like. Many were the whispered inquiries as to who she was, and where she came from, and the fact that she was from the wilds of Montana did not in the least detract from the interest in her.
Only Clarice kept aloof, sitting just where she sat when Paul came up with Elithe. She had a headache, and was too tired and hot to play, she said, and was going home. But she waited and watched Elithe until the game was over, and then arose to go.
“Don’t trouble yourself to go with me. Stay with Miss Hansford by all means,” she said to Paul, who, until then, had not thought it necessary to accompany her, as the Percy cottage was not more than fifty rods away, and it was still daylight, with a full moon rising over the sea.
Now, however, he knew by the tone he was learning that it was necessary.
“I am sorry to take you away, but as Miss Percy is tired I think we will go with her,” he said to Elithe, who, flushed with exercise and pleasure, was looking very bright and beautiful, and around whom the young men were gathered as bees gather around a flower.
Two or three of them at once protested against her leaving, saying they would see her home. Elithe thanked them, but decided to go with Paul and Clarice. The latter was very silent until the cottage was reached. Then she said: “Good-night, Miss Hansford. I am sure you will excuse Mr. Ralston if he stops with me. There is something I particularly wish to tell him.”
“Certainly,” Elithe replied, and was turning away when Paul laid his hand on her shoulder and detained her.
He had not been pleased with Clarice’s manner at the court, and he was less pleased with it now.
“I brought Miss Hansford here,” he said, in a tone of annoyance, “and I shall see her home. You can go with us, if you like.”