Colonel Pendleton was
very good to me when he came; he always treated me like a princess
even when I wore short frocks. It was his manner that first made
me think he knew my family; but I never felt as if I could tell him
anything, and I don't think, with all his chivalrous respect, he
ever understood me. As to the others--the Mayors--well, you may
judge from Mr. Henderson. It is a wonder that I did not run away
or do something desperate. Now, are you not a LITTLE sorry?"
Her voice, which had as many capricious changes as her manner, had
been alternately coquettish, petulant, and serious, had now become
playful again. But, like the rest of her sex, she was evidently
more alert to her surroundings at such a moment than her companion,
for before he could make any reply, she said, without apparently
looking, "But there is a deputation coming for you, Mr. Hathaway.
You see, the case is hopeless. You never would be able to give to
one what is claimed by the many."
Paul glanced down the rose-alley, and saw that the deputation in
question was composed of the Mayor, Mr. Woods, a thin, delicate-
looking woman,--evidently Mrs. Woods,--and Milly. The latter
managed to reach the summer-house first, with apparently youthful
alacrity, but really to exchange, in a single glance, some
mysterious feminine signal with Yerba.
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