And her skin was
glowing from the exercise. An involuntary feeling of admiration for this
tall, athletic young woman swept over me, and I halted in my steps for no
other reason, I believe, than that I might look upon her the longer.
What man, I thought resentfully, would not travel a thousand miles to be
near her?
"It is Mr. Crocker," said Mrs. Cooke; "I had given up all hope of ever
seeing you again. Why have you been such a stranger?"
"As if you didn't know, Aunt Maria," Miss Thorn put in gayly.
"Oh yes, I know," returned her aunt, "and I have not been foolish enough
to invite the bar without the magnet. And yet, Mr. Crocker," she went on
playfully, "I had imagined that you were the one man in a hundred who did
not need an inducement."
Miss Thorn began digging up the turf with her lofter: it was a painful
moment for me.
"You might at least have tried me, Mrs. Cooke," I said.
Miss Thorn looked up quickly from the ground, her eyes searchingly upon
my face. And Mrs. Cooke seemed surprised.
"We are glad you came, at any rate," she answered.
And at luncheon my seat was next to Miss Thorn's, while the Celebrity was
placed at the right of Miss Trevor. I observed that his face went blank
from time to time at some quip of hers: even a dull woman may be sharp
under such circumstances, and Miss Trevor had wits to spare. And I
marked that she never allowed her talk with him to drift into deep water;
when there was danger of this she would draw the entire table into their
conversation by some adroit remark, or create a laugh at his expense.
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