Erle looked embarrassed at the child’s speech, but Percy laughed, and the next minute he rose.
“Do you mind if I leave you for a few minutes, Fern? I have a little business that will take me about a quarter of an hour—oh, I will be back in time,” as Erle seemed inclined to remonstrate; “you may depend upon it that I will not make you late for dinner, as la Belle Evelyn is to be there,” and with a nod at his sister he left the room.
Fern looked a little troubled. “I hope he has not gone to meet—” and then she flushed up and did not finish her sentence; but Erle understood her in a moment.
“Miss Davenport would not be pleased, I suppose—oh, yes, of course he has gone to meet her. What a pity your mother is not here, Miss Trafford; she would have kept him in order?”
“Crystal will be so angry,” replied Fern, anxiously, and dropping her voice so that Fluff should not overhear her; but the child, disappointed that her request had been refused, had betaken herself to the furthest corner of the room with her kitten, to whom she was whispering her displeasure. “She never likes Percy to meet her or show her any attention; I have told him so over and over again, but he will not listen to me.”
“I am afraid he is rather smitten with your friend, Miss Davenport—she is wonderfully handsome, certainly. Yes, one can not be surprised at Percy’s infatuation—you are the gainer in one way, Miss Trafford, for Percy never came half so often until Miss Davenport lived with you.”
“That makes it all the more wrong,” returned Fern, firmly; “it was Percy’s duty to come and see mother, and yet he stayed away for months at a time. Crystal has never encouraged him—she never will. I know in her heart she does not like Percy, and yet he will persist in harassing her.”
“Faint heart ne’er won fair lady,” returned Erle, lightly; and then, as he saw the tears in Fern’s eyes, his manner changed. “You must not trouble yourself about it,” he said, kindly; “it will be Percy’s own fault if he gets badly bitten: even I, a complete stranger to Miss Davenport—for I believe I have not seen her more than three times—can quite indorse what you say; her manner is most repelling to Percy. He must be bewitched, I think.”
“I wish he were different,” she replied, with a sigh; “I know he makes mother often very unhappy, though she never says so. He seems to find fault with us for our poverty, and says hard things to mother because she will work for us all.”
“Yes, I know, and yet Percy is not a bad-hearted fellow,” replied Erle, in a sympathizing tone; “he is terribly sore, I know, because your mother refuses his help; he has told me over and over again that with his handsome allowance he could keep her in comfort, and that he knows that his grandfather would not object. It makes him bitter—it does indeed, Miss Trafford, to have his gifts refused.”