and did her best by smile and greeting to attract
him to her.

"You look very white, my dear Miss Boyce," said that cheerful and
fatherly person. "Is it that tiresome arm still? Now, don't please go
and be a heroine any more!"

CHAPTER XIII.

Meanwhile, in the tea-room, Betty was daintily sipping her claret-cup,
while Aldous stood by her.

"No," said Betty, calmly, looking straight at the lady in the tiara who
was standing by the buffet, "she's not beautiful, and I've torn my dress
running after her. There's only one beautiful person here to-night!"

Aldous found her a seat, and took one himself beside her, in a corner
out of the press. But he did not answer her remark.

"Don't you think so, Mr. Aldous?" said Betty, persisting, but with a
little flutter of the pulse.

"You mean Miss Boyce?" he said quietly, as he turned to her.

"Of course!" cried Betty, with a sparkle in her charming eyes; "what
_is_ it in her face? It excites me to be near her. One feels that she
will just have lived _twice_ as much as the rest of us by the time she
comes to the end. You don't mind my talking of her, Mr. Aldous?"

There was an instant's silence on his part. Then he said in a
constrained voice, looking away from his companion, "I don't _mind_ it,
but I am not going to pretend to you that I find it easy to talk of
her."

"It would be a shame of you to pretend anything," said Betty, fervently,
"after all I've told you! I confessed all my scrapes to you, turned out
all my rubbish bag of a heart--well, nearly all"--she checked herself
with a sudden flush--"And you've been as kind to me as any big brother
could be. But you're dreadfully lofty, Mr. Aldous! You keep yourself to
yourself. I don't think it's fair!"

Aldous laughed.

"My dear Miss Betty, haven't you found out by now that I am a good
listener and a bad talker? I don't talk of myself or"--he
hesitated--"the things that have mattered most to me--because, in the
first place, it doesn't come easy to me--and, in the next, I can't, you
see, discuss my own concerns without discussing other people's."

"Oh, good gracious!" said Betty, "what you must have been thinking about
me! I declare I'll never tell you anything again!"--and, beating her
tiny foot upon the ground, she sat, scarlet, looking down at it.

Aldous made all the smiling excuses he could muster. He had found Betty
a most beguiling and attaching little companion, both at the Court in
the Easter rece