"Minty's ready. You might take her home."
"All right. I'll wait."
"I hope I haven't frightened Miss Sharpe away," said Mainwaring. "She
isn't going, surely?"
"Only to get some better clothes, on account of company. I'm afraid
you are giving her a good deal of trouble, Mr. Mainwaring," said Mrs.
Bradley, laughing.
"She wished me to say good-by to you for her, as she couldn't come on
the veranda in her old shawl and sun-bonnet," added Louise, who had
joined them. "What do you really think of her, Mr. Mainwaring? I call
her quite pretty, at times. Don't you?"
Mainwaring knew not what to say. He could not understand why they
could have any special interest in the girl, or care to know what he, a
perfect stranger, thought of her. He avoided a direct reply, however, by
playfully wondering how Mrs. Bradley could subject her husband to Miss
Minty's undivided fascinations.
"Oh, Jim always takes her home--if it's in the evening. He gets along
with these people better than we do," returned Mrs. Bradley,
dryly. "But," she added, with a return of her piquant Quaker-like
coquettishness, "Jim says we are to devote ourselves to you to-night--in
retaliation, I suppose. We are to amuse you, and not let you get
excited; and you are to be sent to bed early.
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