“I just left her in Robertson Street,” answered Philip, who felt decidedly uncomfortable.
“Oh, well, I will go in pursuit,” said the Colonel. “Langridge is going to lunch with us. To tell you the truth, I should not be sorry to see her settle down in that quarter. He’d keep her in order! Good-bye!”
“Here is a pretty kettle of fish!” muttered Philip, as he strode on.
CHAPTER V
A WOMAN’S HONOR
“Phyllis, if you are as good a walker as you used to be, won’t you go to Fairlight Glen by the East Hill with me? We could start directly after luncheon, and get to the Glen as soon as the others.”
Mr. Herbert Langridge, who had been persuaded by Colonel Lane to join the picnic, saw a chance in this proposal of an hour or two in which to have the object of his desire to himself, and Colonel Lane had been quite right in supposing that this young man had come to Hastings with the set purpose of getting Phyllis to reconsider a former unfavorable decision.
Phyllis, who knew that things had happened which rendered that former decision final, and seeing no reason at all why she should not listen to pretty compliments for an hour, consented.
Colonel Lane was pleased.
Langridge had a snug post in the War Office, and would some day have a really good pension. It would be a relief to have Phyllis settled. Moreover, Colonel Lane had plans of his own which the marriage of Phyllis would to his mind make easier.
The three were walking on the sea-front near the band-stand, for Colonel Lane had captured Phyllis at the shop of Plummer Roddis, and had carried her off to the “Albany,” where Langridge had been waiting in the covered space outside, where lounge chairs are placed.