"
"I am not talking out of any novel that ever was written," said Bobus
seriously; but she was speeding on too fast to heed him, and started
as he laid a hand on her arm.
"Stay, Essie; you must not rush on like a frightened fawn, or people
will stare," he said; and she slackened her pace, though she shook
him off and went on through the numerous passengers on the footpath,
with her pretty head held aloft with the stately grace of the
startled pheasant, not choosing to seem to hear his attempts at
addressing her, and taking refuge at last in the innermost recesses
of the family seat at Church, though it was full a quarter to five.
There the rest of the party found her, and as they did not find
Bobus, they concluded that all was safe. However, when the two Johns
were walking home with Mother Carey, Bobus joined them, and soon made
his mother fall behind with him, asking her, "I hope your eloquence
prevailed."
"Far from it, Bobus," she said. "In fact you have alarmed them."
"H. S. H. doesn't improve with age," he replied carelessly. "She
never troubled herself about Jessie."
"Perhaps no one gave her cause. My dear boy, I am very sorry for
you," and she laid her hand within his arm.
"Have they been baiting you? Poor little Mother Carey!" he said.
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