Presently some friends came forward to join the three ladies, when Ralph immediately joined her with an invitation which sounded more like a command-- "Come for a walk round the gardens!" Darsie rose, nothing loath, conscious that she was about to be reproved, and finding an agreeable sense of support in her lengthened skirts, and the semblance of grown-up-ness which they imparted. "What did you mean by staring at me like that?" "Like which?" "You know very well. You did it on purpose to annoy me, and make me uncomfortable." "Oh no, I didn't! I didn't do anything. It did itself. It was just the outward and visible expression of my inward and invisible thoughts." "Pretty middling disagreeable thoughts they must have been!" "Humph! Not disagreeable exactly. Hardly strong enough for that. Just amused!" "Amused!" The flush deepened on the lad's cheek. Unwittingly Darsie had hit upon the most scathing of all indictments. To be an object of _amusement_ to others! What could be more lacerating to the dignity of nineteen years. "I had no idea that I was being so funny. Will you have the goodness to point out what you found so amusing?" "Your airs," replied Darsie bluntly. "And graces! You asked me, you know, so I'm bound to tell you. It's so odd to see a boy like that. But you needn't be cross. I'm speaking only for myself. Those other girls liked it very much... You could see that for yourself." "Just so. We are talking of _your_ opinion at the moment, however, not of theirs. What sort of--er--_boys_ are you accustomed to meet, if one may ask?" The strong accent thrown on the word "boys" showed a fresh ground of complaint. Darsie felt a twinge of compunction, remembering the episode of the punt and her own great cause for gratitude. The answer came with startling earnestness. "Not a bit braver than you, nor quicker and cleverer in an emergency. Perhaps not so good. If you'd hesitated one moment I mightn't have been here to criticise. But, just big, simple boys, not an ounce of affectation between them. Of course, they are not handsome. That makes a difference..." But Ralph was not to be mollified by a compliment on his good looks. He was irritated, and considered that he had good reason for being so. Darsie Garnett was an unusually pretty and attractive girl, and having saved her from a perilous position but a fortnight earlier, it had been an agreeable delusion to imagine himself ensconced for life in her estimation as a gallant young rescuer, the object of her undying gratitude and admiration--a delusion indeed, since the criticism of those mocking eyes was more than equalled by the explicitness of her explanations!