"I'm not cross with you,
though I hoped you would refuse. I'd no right to dictate when it meant
your sacrificing a lot of money--a hundred pounds at least, which would go
begging unless you accepted."
"A hundred pounds!" the girl stammered. "Oh, I didn't know the bag was
worth the half of that! Will I give it back to the gentleman?"
"It's too late. There would only be a scene. He'd refuse to take the
thing."
Kate looked relieved. "Then I'll just try and sell it in the first big
city where we're stopping ma'am," she said, with a happy sigh. "You
_tould_ me a black cat brought luck!"
Angela neither slept well nor lay awake well that night. Whenever she
closed her eyes she seemed to meet Nick Hilliard's beseeching look; and
next day, angrily pushing him and his problems out of her mind, she
devoted herself passionately to scenery. He must have taken his meals very
early or very late, or else had none at all, for not once did she see him
in the dining-car. The following day at luncheon, however, he was going
out as she came in. She bowed to him coldly, but her heart beat as if
something exciting had happened. That night she forgot to set back her
watch, and so went to dinner earlier than usual. Not far ahead, also bound
for the dining-car, was Mr.
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