CHAPTER XXII.
"And she didn't make any objection to going with you?"
"No, not the slightest. Indeed she seemed glad to go with us."
Hope flushed a little, as she said this in answer to Kate's question that night, as the two sat talking over the day and its exciting events. The flush was the result of that pang of tender conscience that springs up in revolt at even a momentary want of candor.
"And Ray Armitage,—how did he take it?"
"Oh, quite easily!"
"And you didn't have—either you or Mrs. Sibley—to argue with her; you didn't have to tell her that the only thing to save her from the consequences of her silliness was to go home in a proper way under proper chaperonage?"
"No, we didn't have to knock her down with that bludgeon," laughed Hope.
"Well, I suppose she had begun to think! I'm glad she had so much sense. Schuyler made all manner of fun of me after you and Mrs. Sibley left. He said, in the first place, that he didn't believe you'd be in time to see them before they entered the theatre, and if you did, you wouldn't stop them."
"Mrs. Sibley was of the same opinion exactly."