"I didn't see any."
"Never mind. After dinner you can get one. And you may put me down for three and eight. That will leave you room for others." She smiled bewitchingly. "You have to be nice to everybody, you know."
"Yes, I know." He was still looking at her. "But ever since I saw you at my uncle's last April, I've been wishing I might see you again. I always look for your name in the papers."
He looked at her seekingly and questioningly and in spite of herself, Sondra was captivated by this naïve confession. Plainly he could not afford to go where or do what she did, but still he would trouble to follow her name and movements in print. She could not resist the desire to make something more of this.
"Oh, do you?" she added. "Isn't that nice? But what do you read about me?"
"That you were at Twelfth and Greenwood Lakes and up at Sharon for the swimming contests. I saw where you went up to Paul Smith's, too. The papers here seemed to think you were interested in some one from Schroon Lake and that you might be going to marry him."
"Oh, did they? How silly. The papers here always say such silly things." Her tone implied that he might be intruding. He looked embarrassed. This softened her and after a moment she took up the conversation in the former vein.
"Do you like to ride?" she asked sweetly and placatively.
"I never have. You know I never had much chance at that, but I always thought I could if I tried."
"Of course, it's not hard. If you took a lesson or two you could, and," she added in a somewhat lower tone, "we might go for a canter sometime. There are lots of horses in our stable that you would like, I'm sure."