“What was mean?”
“To tie you up with Amelia Hartshorn.”
“Why, on the contrary, I—I thought Miss Hartshorn very agreeable,” replied Mr. Sheridan, fibbing like a gentleman.
Jane shrugged her shoulders.
“I was afraid that Dolly might have forgotten that you were a stranger, and leave you with one partner for the rest of the dance. And then you’d have been bored, and—and would have wanted solitude worse than ever.”
This remark brought first a puzzled expression and then a burst of half-shamefaced amusement from Mr. Sheridan.
“You evidently remember our conversation very clearly,” he remarked.
“Oh, yes, I do. I’ve thought about it quite often—that is, about some of the things you said.”
“And I must add that you seem to take great interest in your friends.”
“I suppose,” replied Jane with a sigh, “that you think I’m an awful busybody, too. Well, if I am I can’t help it. I mean well.”