A few steps farther he came to a full stop, and his eyes began to glisten, and he pricked up his ears after the manner of lovers; for through an open window just behind him, he could hear Nan’s voice, sweet and musical, reading aloud to her sisters.
“Oh, the darling!” he murmured, and composed himself for a few moments’ ecstasy, for no doubt she was reading Tennyson, or Barrett-Browning, or one of the poetry-books he had given her; but he was a little disappointed when he found it was prose.
“‘With regard to washing-dresses,’” read Nan, in her clear tones, “‘cottons, as a general thing, have another material made up with them; the under-skirt may be of foulard or satin––?’”
“Oh, I dare say! What nonsensical extravagance!” observed Phillis.
“‘Or the bodice of surah, satin, cashmere, or llama, and the skirt of cotton.... The skirts are nearly always made with single box-pleats, with a flat surface in the centre, and a flat band of trimming is often stitched on at about five inches from the edge of the flounce.’ I should say that would be sweetly pretty, dear: we might try it for Mrs. Penlip’s dress. And just listen to a little more.”
“I shall do nothing of the kind,” blurted out Dick. “Oh, Nan, Nan! how could you be such a traitor?—washing-dresses indeed, and me left in ignorance!” And there was Dick, his face glowing and indignant, standing in the window, with Laddie barking furiously at him, and his outstretched hand nearly touching Nan.
Phillis and Dulce screamed with surprise, being young and easily excited; but Nan only said, “Oh, Dick!” very faintly; and her sweet face grew red and pale by turns, and her fingers fluttered a little in his grasp, but only for joy and the sheer delight of seeing him.
As for Dick, his eyes shone, but his manner was masterful.
“Look here!” he said, drawing Nan’s advertisement from his pocket; “we had come down here to surprise you girls, and to have a little fun and tennis; and I meant to have treated you to the public ground at the hotel, as I knew you had only a scrubby little bit of lawn; and this is what has met my eyes this morning! You have deceived mother and me; you have let us enjoy our holiday, which I didn’t a bit, for I had a sort of 223 nasty presentiment and a heap of uncomfortable thoughts; and all the while you were slaving away at this hideous dressmaking,—I wish I could burn the whole rag, tag, and bobtail,—and never let us know you wanted anything. And you call that being friends!”
“Yes, and the best of friends, too,” responded Phillis, cheerfully, for Nan was too much crushed by all this eloquence to answer. “Come along, Dulce! don’t listen any more to this nonsense, when you know mother is wanting us. Dick is all very well when he is in a good humor, but time and dressmaking wait for no man.” And the young hypocrite dragged the unwilling Dulce away. “Can’t you leave them alone to come to an understanding?” whispered Phillis in her ear, when they got outside the door. “I can see it in his eyes; and Nan is on the verge of crying, she is so upset with the surprise. And, you goose, where are you going now?”