“Oh no, thank you. We dined in the middle of the day.”
“Then I may call you about seven o'clock,” said Tom, who had come unwillingly to the conclusion that he had better leave them for the present.
“Yes, and mind you come in good time; we mean to see the whole sight, remember. We are country cousins.”
“You must let me call you cousin then, just for the look of the thing.”
“Certainly, just for the look of the thing, we will be cousins till further notice.”
“Well, you and Tom seem to get on together, Mary,” said Miss Winter, as they heard the front door close. “I'm learning a lesson from you, though I doubt whether I shall ever be able to put it in practice. What a blessing it must be not to be shy!”
“Are you shy, then?” said Mary, looking at her cousin with a playful loving smile.
“Yes, dreadfully. It is positive pain to me to walk into a room where there are people I do not know.”
“But I feel that too. I'm sure, now, you were much less embarrassed than I last night at the Vice Chancellor's. I quite envied you, you seemed so much at your ease.”
“Did I? I would have given anything to be back here quietly. But it is not the same thing with you. You have no real shyness, or you would never have got on so fast with my cousin.”