Don't you perceive that my
duties as chaperon to those lovers should lie nearest my heart?"
Then it was that he turned and cast that comprehending glance at the two
in the distant observatory. Knowing how far from Bayne's mind was the
emotion, the intention, she ascribed to him, that she would fain foster,
his face grew rueful and overcast. He shook his head with disconsolate
rebuke. "Oh, you woman, you!"
But the reproach did not strike home. Mrs. Briscoe was quite satisfied to
be a woman, and was avowedly seeking to add to the normal subtleties of
this state the special craft of a matchmaker.
Briscoe desired to avoid being drawn into any confession of his knowledge
of Bayne's attitude of mind, and, aware of his own lack of diplomacy,
sheered off precipitately from the subject. He turned, beaming anew, to
the little boy who was looking on, cherubically roseate, at the sleek
mare and the smart groom at her bit.
"Then, Archibald Royston, Esquire, may I hope that _you_ will favor
me?"
Archibald Royston, Esquire, suddenly apprehending in the midst of his
absorption the nature of the invitation, gave two elastic bounces
straight up and down expressive of supreme ecstasy; then, his arms
outstretched, he began to run wildly up and down the veranda, looking in
at the doors and windows as he passed, seeking his mother and her
permission.
Pages:
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79