"
Talboys. "In the boat."
"In the boat? What boat? There's no boat."
"I have asked her to sail with me from ---- in a boat; there is a very
nice little lugger-rigged one. I am having the seats padded and
stuffed and lined, and an awning put up, and the boat painted white
and gold."
"Bravo! Cleopatra's galley."
"I assure you she looks forward to it with pleasure; she guesses why I
want to get her into that boat. She hesitated at first, but at last
consented with a look--a conscious look; I can hardly describe it."
"There is no need," cried Fountain. "I know it; the jade turned all
eyelashes."
"That is rather exaggerated, but still--"
"But still I have described it--to a hair. Ha! ha!"
Talboys (gravely). "Well, yes."
Mr. Talboys, I am bound to own, was accurate. During the last day or
two Lucy had taken a turn; she had been bewitching; she had flattered
him with tact, but deliciously; had consulted him as to which of his
beautiful dresses she should wear at the masked ball, and, when
pressed to have a sail in the boat he was fitting for her, she ended
by giving a demure assent.
Chorus of male readers, _"Oh, les femmes, les femmes!"_
David Dodd had by nature a healthy as well as a high mind; but the
fever and ague of an absorbing passion were telling on it. Like many a
great heart before his day, his heart was tossed like a ship, and went
up to heaven, and down again to despair, as a girl's humor shifted, or
seemed to shift, for he forgot that there is such a thing as accident,
and that her sex are even more under its dominion than ours.
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