“I don’t care,” answered Erb. “I’m an awkward chap in these West End circles. When I’m not in ’em I want to be there, and once I’m there I look round directly for an open door to slip out of.”
“And what did Miss Alice have to say for herself?” asked Louisa, coming back to the incident with relish.
“Oh, she kept very cool, and she just whispered, ‘Sit down, Erb, and behave.’”
“That’s her all over.”
“They stared at me naturally enough, and young Lady Frances seemed a bit upset just for a moment, and nobody spoke for a bit, but after a while they were all chatting away again, and the party with the shoulders next to me began asking me what I thought of the new woman at Covent Garden. Then I put me foot in it again,” said Erb amusedly. “I thought she meant the market.”
“How they’d pull you to pieces after you left,” remarked Louisa sighing. “I can ’ear ’em saying things.”
“I can’t,” said Erb contentedly. “And if I did I shouldn’t care. What would you have done,” he appealed to Rosalind, “what would you have done, now, in similar circumstances?”
Rosalind, as she put on her gloves, considered for a moment before replying. Then she leaned towards him and touched Erb’s knee lightly.
“I should have done,” she said, “exactly as you did.”
There were several reasons why Erb should not take her by the arms; all these reasons jumped up before him as he rose and made a step forward. He stopped himself with an effort, and preceded her to the door. They went downstairs, and he walked bareheaded as far as the “Lord Nelson.”