“You didn’t like him!” cried Cecil, but she laughed as she spoke, and her face relaxed; it was evident that she was more pleased than disconcerted at her friend’s lack of approval. “You’re no good at hiding your feelings, Claire; your voice gives you away as well as your face. Why didn’t you like Major Carew? I suppose you don’t deny that he is a handsome man?”
“I don’t think I care about handsome men,” said Claire, seeing before her a clean-shaven face which could lay no claims to beauty, but in comparison with which the Major’s coarse good looks were abhorrent in her eyes.
“Prefer men plain, I suppose? Well, I don’t; I shouldn’t like Frank half so much, if he didn’t look so big and imposing. And other people admire him, too. People stare at him as we pass. I suppose you have guessed that it is with him that I’ve been going out? There didn’t seem any need to speak of it before, but during the rest of the holidays you might expect me to go about with you, and sometimes—often, I hope, I’ll be engaged, so it’s just as well to explain. We can do things together in the morning, but naturally—”
“Yes, of course; I quite understand. Don’t worry about me, Cecil. I’d love you to have a good time. Are you—are you engaged to him, dear?”
There was in her voice that soft, almost awed note with which an unengaged girl regards a companion who has actually plighted her troth. Cecil softened at the sound.
“Well—I suppose we are. Between ourselves. It’s not public yet, but I think it soon will be. Half a dozen years ago I should have been sure, but I know better now. You can never be sure! Men are such brutes. They think of nothing but themselves, and their own amusement.”
“Some men!”
“Most men! Of course, every girl who falls in love thinks her own particular man is the exception, and believes in him blindly until she gets her heart broken for her pains. I believed in a man, too, years ago, when I was not much older than you are now.”
She paused, as though waiting for comment, but Claire sat silent, listening with grave, tender eyes.
Cecil sent her a flickering smile.