"Oh, pray, don't cry!" cried he, in distress. "I did not mean to make you angry, Miss West;" and then Leonora hastily dried her eyes and looked up at him.
"I'm not angry—really," she said. "Only—only, I want you to understand that you need not be angry with Captain Lancaster on my account. There's no use in your liking me and having a quarrel over me—no use at all."
"No one has quarreled," he answered, in a tone of chagrin and bitter disappointment.
"Not yet, of course," she replied shaking her head gravely. "But you know you spoke to him very aggravatingly just now."
"I merely used a quotation from Shakespeare," he retorted.
The bright eyes looked him through and through with their clear gaze.
"Yes, but there was a double meaning in it. I am sure he understood all that you meant to convey. I should think that when you meet him again he will knock you down for it."
"You are charmingly frank, but you are right. I do not doubt but that he will—if he can," he replied, bitterly.
Leonora measured the medium-sized figure critically with her eyes.