She had delighted in the encounter; so,
in spite of castigation, had he. There surged up in him a happy excited
consciousness of quickened life and hurrying hours. He looked with
distaste at the nearness of the house; and at the group of figures
which had paused in front of them, waiting for them, on the farther edge
of the broad lawn.
"You have convicted me of an odious, exclusive, bullying temper--or you
think you have--and all you will allow _me_ in the way of victory is
that I got the best of it because Captain Roughsedge wasn't there!"
"Not at all. I respect your critical faculty!"
"You wish to hear me gush like Mrs. Minchin. It is simply astounding the
number of people you like!"
Diana's laugh broke into a sigh.
"Perhaps it's like a hungry boy in a goody-shop. He wants to eat them
all."
"Were you so very solitary as a child?" he asked her, gently, in a
changed tone, which was itself an act of homage, almost a caress.
"Yes--I was very solitary," she said, after a pause. "And I am really
gregarious--dreadfully fond of people!--and curious about them. And I
think, oddly enough, papa was too."
A question rose naturally to his lips, but was checked unspoken.
Pages:
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139