ear out, in the
company of gentlemen from whom they are exposed at any time to proposals
of a tender nature. It was a pity if he could not be as brave as girls
who are afraid of a mouse. Doubtless it was all in getting used to it.

On reflection, he should not need a chaperon. Had she not assured him
that he need not be afraid of her, that she would never repeat what she
had said, nor trouble him again? How her arm trembled on his as she was
saying that, and how near she came to breaking down! And this was Maud
Elliott, the girl with whom he had never ventured to flirt with as with
some of the others, because she was so reserved and distant. The
very last girl anybody would expect such a thing from! If it had been
embarrassing for him to hear it, what must it have cost such a girl as
Maud Elliott to say it! How did she ever muster the courage?

He took the pipe from his mouth, and the expression of his eyes became
fixed, while his cheeks reddened slowly and deeply. In putting himself
in Maud's place, he was realizing for the first time how strong must
have been the feeling which had nerved her to such a step. His heart
began to beat rather thickly. There was something decidedly intoxicating
in knowing that one was regarded in such a way by a nice girl, even if
it were impossible, as it certainly was in this case, to reciprocate the
feeling. He continued to put himself mentally in Maud's place. No doubt
she was also at that moment sitting alone in her chamber, thinking the
matter over as he was. She was not laughing, however, that was pretty
certain; and it required no clairvoyant's gift for him to be sensible
that her chief concern must be as to what he might be at that moment
thinking about her. And how had he been thinking about her?

As this question came up to his mind, he saw himself for a moment
through Maud's eyes, sitting there smoking, chuckling, mowing like an
idiot before the glass because, forsooth, a girl had put herself at his
mercy on the mistaken supposition that he was a gentleman. As he saw his
conduct in this new light, he had such an access of self-contempt that,
had it been physically convenient, it would have been a relief to kick
himself. What touching faith she had shown in his ability to take a
generous, high-minded view of what she had done, and here he had been
guffawing over it like a corner loafer. He would not, for anything in
the world, have her know how he had behaved. And she should not