ime to hide his feelings. But in a moment
Grace was hanging over his shoulder, oblivious of her surroundings, and
lovingly begging his pardon if she had hurt him. I have sometimes
thought that Phil then fully realized for the first time how he cared
for her. The way in which her affection disregarded the presence of the
crowd smote him, I imagine, with something like despair. I saw him turn
pale and catch his breath, and I knew his laugh too well to be deceived,
as Grace was, when he made light of her self-accusations and declared
that than taking offence at her words nothing had been further from his
thoughts. This was in a sense true, of course, for ordinarily he would
have answered as light-heartedly almost as Grace herself; and it was
only the feeling of jealousy, unconscious perhaps, at any rate
irresistible, that gave her words undue--no, not that exactly, but
unusual influence over his feelings.

"For a while Phil acted as considerately as ever, and made himself
thoroughly agreeable to several young ladies, whereat Grace was highly
pleased and soon took up again her mood of gayety. But when Phil brought
her a plate and napkin and some things to eat, and found her and Herbert
already served and with mock gravity breaking a piece of cake together
on the stairs,--'they were only doing it,' Phil declared to me
afterward, 'that they might touch each other's hands,'--he lost his
head. He must have spoken very bitterly, else he would never have
aroused Grace's anger. I don't know what he said, except that he
complained about having come to such a thing as a church sociable, which
he despised, and, inasmuch as he had done it for the sake of her
enjoyment and pleasure, she might at least have shown him the same
politeness she would have accorded to any of the insufferable prigs whom
she seemed delighted to honor.

"Herbert started to reply, but Grace silenced him by a look, and said,
'We have been as brother and sister since childhood.' It was probably
well for Herbert's handsome face that he did not enter into a discussion
with Phil. They were both hot-tempered, and Phil had no scruples against
asking him out of doors, and would have been as cool in his manner and
as terrible in his strength as an iceberg.

"Grace led Phil away, and tried to tell him how she had not supposed he
would care; that she had imagined he would prefer to serve the young
lady with whom he had been talking; how she had never known him to put
su