e guessed how consoled and comforted he was by it.
With great fortitude and self-denial he forbore to look in her direction
again, but he lingered at the table until the last moment that he might
watch her when she returned to the coach. Mr. Carrington entertained
ideals where women were concerned, and even though he had been the
one to profit by it he would not have had Betty depart in the minutest
particular from those stringent rules he laid down for her sex.
Consequently that distant air she bore toward him filled him with
satisfaction. It was quite enough for the present--for the present--that
three times each day his perseverance and determination were rewarded by
that curt little acknowledgment of her indebtedness to him.
It was four days to Richmond. Four days of hot, dusty travel, four
nights of uncomfortable cross-road stations, where Betty suffered
sleepless nights and the unaccustomed pangs of early rising. She
occasionally found herself wondering who Carrington was. She approved of
the manner in which he conducted himself. She liked a man who could be
unobtrusive. Traveling like that day after day it would have been so
easy for him to be officious. But he never addressed her and refused
to see any opportunity to assist her in entering or quitting the stage,
leaving that to some one else. Presently she was sorry she had bowed
to him that first day--so self-contained and unpresuming a person as he
would evidently have been quite satisfied to overlook the omission.
Then she began to be haunted by doubts. Perhaps, after all, he had not
recognized her as the girl he had met in the road! This gave her a very
queer feeling indeed--for what must he think of her? And the next time
she bowed to this perfect stranger she threw a chilling austerity into
the salutation quite at variance with her appearance, for the windy
drive had tangled her hair and blown it in curling wisps about her face.
This served to trouble Carrington excessively, and furnished him with
food for reflection through all his waking moments for the succeeding
eight and forty hours.
The next morning he found himself seated opposite her at breakfast. He
received another curt little nod, cool and distant, as he took his seat,
but he felt strongly that a mere bowing acquaintance would no longer
suffice; so he passed her a number of things she didn't want, and
presently ventured the opinion that she must find traveling as they
were, day after day, ver
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