foolishly he had
been acting, and how painful to her must have been his extravagant joy
at seeing her. The reference she had made to the dinner made his
humiliation still keener to bear, for he thought she alluded to his
unhappy speech.

The sudden flight of happiness from his face made her own grow grave,
and she drew a little closer to him; but in his humiliation he did not
notice it. He thought she was haughtily waiting for him to speak. In
his quaint halting English he began to tell her that he feared he had
been most discourteous. The truth was he had "not meant to stay away
so long, but had got thinking of--of--"

"Thinking of what, Vital?"

Was he mistaken? Was not that a kindly ring in her voice? It was hard
to keep his eyes from her face. Then he thought of his brother, and he
was sure his ears had deceived him. After a painful pause, he answered
that he had been thinking of many things. Not for a moment did he
dream of letting her know that she had been the magnet around which
all his thoughts had revolved. Then he began to explain about that
speech. Hardly had he begun to apologize for his lack of oratorical
ability, when a pained expression swept across Katie's face, and she
was about to reproach him for thinking she would be so ungenerous as
to upbraid him for such a thing, when a spirit of mischief entered her
heart, and putting on a serious air she let him continue. He finally
wound up by praising his brother's wonderful gift of speech.

"Oh, yes," she replied warmly, "Zotique is a great speaker, and such a
dancer!" She stole a swift glance at him. His eyes were still fixed on
the trees in the distance. A queer little smile stole around the
corners of her mouth. He admitted, with a valiant effort to throw a
little enthusiasm into his voice, that Zotique was indeed a grand
dancer. The smile, which was in no way scornful, deepened on her face.

"And he is so polite to ladies, and takes such trouble to provide them
with seats at crowded tables," Katie went on reflectively.

He stole a hasty glance at her face, but quick as he was she was
quicker; the smile had vanished. He saw only a deeply thoughtful
expression.

To think of Katie praising Zotique for providing her with a seat! If
she only knew how she was wounding him! but he was sure she did not.
He wondered what she would think if she only knew that the failure of
his speech had been largely due to not having had the privilege of
providing her