She was inclined to make the most of the
occasion, and she did so. With Helga she quickly superseded the pair of
sympathetic and ready maids, whom she allowed to fade into the background
with too scant recognition of their services; and when she had got Amy
thoroughly warmed and rehabilitated she turned her thought toward Cope.
Here, certainly, was a young scholastic recluse who had an admirable
faculty for getting into the public eye. If one section of Churchton
society had talked about his performance at her dinner, all sections of it
would now be discussing his new performance on the high seas. Suddenly she
was struck with the notion that possibly his first lapse had not left him
in condition to stand this second one.
"How are you feeling?" she asked anxiously. "No chill? No shock?"
"I'm all right," he declared. "One of the boys has just given me a drink
of--of----" But it was a beverage the use of which was not generally
approved in Churchton.
Mrs. Phillips turned round suddenly. "Amy, did you have a drink, too, of--
of--of--if 'Of' is what you call it?"
"I did," said Amy firmly; "and I feel the better for it.
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