"It's—it's a man much older than I am," she went on, "and—and I don't know that he has ever thought of me—in that way—perhaps if he had, he might like me—a little——"
I am sure that Charlemagne felt the charm of her youth, as she made her little confession, and I am just as sure that he was absolutely innocent that he was the object of it.
"He would undoubtedly love you more than a little," he said heartily. "Look here, Elizabeth, you won't mind telling me who he is—will you——?"
Here was an opportunity holding out open arms, and did Elizabeth embrace it as beseemed an advocate of woman's right to woo?
Not she! She simply gasped in a panic-stricken way and stood up.
"Oh, no," she whispered, with her cheeks flaming, "I couldn't—I couldn't tell any one."
Before Charlemagne could answer, McChesney blundered in.
"Say——" he stopped dead still on the threshold, "I think this is a case of monopoly. I'm tired of hanging around waiting for the girl I want. I am going to break the rules, Dabney, and ask Miss Ames to take me for a walk in the rose garden."
And Elizabeth actually turned to him with an air of relief.
"Oh, yes," she said breathlessly, "I'd love it!"