Southern States -- History -- 1865-1877 -- Fiction; Young men -- Fiction
"I tell you who is here; that little governess of Mrs. Wentworth's she
was so disagreeable to last winter. She has been very ill. I think it
was the way she was treated in New York. She was in love with Ferdy
Wickersham, you know? She lives here, in a lovely old place just outside
of town, with her old aunt or cousin. I had no idea she had such a nice
old home. We saw her yesterday. We met her on the street."
"I remember her; I shall go and see her," said Keith, recalling Mrs.
Nailor's speech at Mrs. Wickersham's dinner, and Lois's revenge.
"I tell you what we will do. She invited us to call, and we will go
together," said Mrs. Nailor.
Keith paused a moment in reflection, and then said casually:
"When are you going?"
"Oh, this afternoon."
"Very well; I will go."
Mrs. Nailor drove Keith out to The Lawns that afternoon.
In a little while Miss Huntington came in. Keith observed that she was
dressed as she had been that evening at dinner, in white, but he did
not dream that it was the result of thought. He did not know with what
care every touch had been made to reproduce just what he had praised, or
with what sparkling eyes she had surveyed the slim, dainty figure in the
old cheval-glass. She greeted Mrs. Nailor civilly and Keith warmly.
"I am very glad to see you. What in the world brought you here to this
out-of-the-way place?" she said, turning to the latter and giving him
her cool, soft hand, and looking up at him with unfeigned pleasure, a
softer and deeper glow coming into her cheek as she gazed into his eyes.
"A sudden fit of insanity," said Keith, taking in the sweet, girlish
figure in his glance. "I wanted to see some roses that I knew bloomed in
an old garden about here."
"He, perhaps, thought that, as Brookford is growing so fashionable now,
he might find a mutual friend of ours here?" Mrs. Nailor said.
"As whom, for instance?" queried Keith, unwilling to commit himself.
"You know, Alice Lancaster has been talking of coming here? Now, don't
pretend that you don't know. Whom does every one say you are--all in
pursuit of?"
"I am sure I do not know," said Keith, calmly. "I suppose that you are
referring to Mrs. Lancaster, but I happened to know that she was not
here. No; I came to see Miss Huntington." His face wore an expression of
amusement.
Mrs. Nailor made some smiling reply. She did not see the expression in
Keith's eyes as they, for a second, caught Lois's glance.
Just then Miss Abigail came in. She had grown whiter since Keith had
seen her last, and looked older. She greeted Mrs. Nailor graciously, and
Keith cordially. Miss Lois, for some reason of her own, was plying Mrs.
Nailor with questions, and Keith fell to talking with Miss Abigail,
though his eyes were on Lois most of the time.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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