. Carlyon agreed
with him, for Malcolm saw him once looking at her intently under his
hand.

A little while afterwards Malcolm, who was too hot to play any more,
strolled off by himself down one of the woodland paths to get cool, but
to his chagrin he heard voices which told him the speakers were
parallel with him, and the next minute he heard Tina Ross say
pettishly--

"Did you ever see any one so ridiculous as Elizabeth Templeton; just
fancy wearing her Paris gown at a trumpery little home affair like
this! Talk of coquetry," in a disgusted voice, "do you suppose she did
not know what she was doing when she pinned those La France roses in
her dress! It is not as though she were our age; she is thirty--thirty;
why, that is quite an old maid!"

"How can you be so absurd, Tiny?" It was Nora Brent who spoke. "Fancy
calling Miss Elizabeth Templeton an old maid. Mamma was only saying how
handsome she looked." Here Malcolm coughed rather loudly, but no one
took any notice.

"Handsome is as handsome does," returned Tina, in rather a vixenish
tone. "I hope you noticed, Nora, that I was never allowed to have Mr.
Carlyon for a partner. Talk of Queen Elizabeth indeed--we have Queen
Elizabeth the second at Staplegrove. If one spoke to the poor man it
was 'hands off--don't poach on my preserves,' just as though she
thought him her own property, which he is not, and never will be."

"Really, Tina, you are too bad; you ought not to say such things of our
dear Miss Elizabeth. You had Mr. Herrick for your partner."

"Oh, he is a town prig," began Tina recklessly; but here Malcolm, who
had cleared his voice in vain, now began to whistle with such
unmistakable purpose that a dead silence ensued.

"What a spiteful little toad!" thought Malcolm, who cared nothing for
fluffy hair and curling eyelashes if a shrewish tongue accompanied them.

He thought both the girls avoided him in rather a guilty fashion when
he passed them on the terrace; and he was inwardly disgusted when, most
of the guests having taken their leave, and supper being announced,
Elizabeth asked him to take Miss Tina Ross into the dining-room; Nora
followed with Mr. Carlyon, but the width of the table separated him.
Malcolm paid the young lady proper attention; that is to say, he kept
her plate supplied with good things, but otherwise he took very little
notice of her, and talked to gentle-looking Mrs. Brent, who was on his
other side.

But Tina was not used to