Presently she felt something alive touch her foot, and, her breath catching with alarm, she started to rise. A thin hand, issuing from a shabby sleeve, had stolen out between two of the green tubs and was pressing upon one of her shoes.
“Sh!” warned a voice. “Don’t make a noise!”
The warning was not needed; she had recognized the hand and sleeve instantly. It was her playmate and lifelong friend, Joe Louden.
“What were you going on about?” he asked angrily.
“Nothing,” she answered. “I wasn’t. You must go away; you know the Judge doesn’t like you.”
“What were you crying about?” interrupted the uninvited guest.
“Nothing, I tell you!” she repeated, the tears not ceasing to gather in her eyes. “I wasn’t.”
“I want to know what it was,” he insisted. “Didn’t the fools ask you to dance! Ah! You needn’t tell me. That’s it. I’ve been here, watching, for the last three dances and you weren’t in sight till you came to the window. Well, what do you care about that for!”
“I don’t,” she answered. “I don’t!” Then suddenly, without being able to prevent it, she sobbed.
“No,” he said, gently, “I see you don’t. And you let yourself be a fool because there are a lot of fools in there.”