“Who was the girl I saw sitting on your tricycle in front of the store, waiting for you?”
“You didn’t see any girl on my tricycle. When?”
“Last evening, just after supper, I passed the store. The tricycle stood in front of it, and there was a young lady sitting on it, waiting for you to come out. I was going to stop for you, when I saw you had her company, and came home.”
“Why, you are surely mistaken! There was nobody there!”
“Didn’t you have the tricycle there?”
“Yes. But there was no lady there.”
“Perhaps you mean to say I can’t see, sir! There was a young lady sitting on it and waiting for you to come out.”
David thought for a minute, with an air of embarrassment that confirmed her suspicions. Then he slowly and reluctantly, and yet with evident anxious interest, asked:
“How did she look? Did you see her face?”
“No: she kept her face turned away from me, as if she didn’t wish me to know her. She was a handsome girl, I should judge; but she acted as though she was ashamed of herself.”