"Nobody said anything about briny drops, mamma," said Edith. "Why there's Florence!--"
Her entrance made a little bustle, which Fleda was very glad of. Unkind!--She was trembling again in every finger. She bent down over her canvas and worked away as hard as she could. That did not hinder her becoming aware presently that Mr. Carleton was standing close beside her.
"Are you not trying your eyes?" said he.
The words were nothing, but the tone was a great deal, there was a kind of quiet intelligence in it. Fleda looked up, and something in the clear steady self-reliant eye she met wrought an instant change in her feeling. She met it a moment and then looked at her work again with nerves quieted.
"Cannot I persuade them to be of my mind?" said Mr. Carleton, bending down a little nearer to their sphere of action.
"Mr. Carleton is unreasonable, to require more testimony of that this evening," said Mr. Thorn;--"his own must have been ill employed."
Fleda did not look up, but the absolute quietness of Mr. Carleton's manner could be felt; she felt it, almost with sympathetic pain. Thorn immediately left them and took leave.
"What are you searching for in the papers, Mr. Carleton?" said Mrs. Evelyn presently coming up to them.
"I was looking for the steamers, Mrs. Evelyn."
"How soon do you think of bidding us good-bye?"