erely. "He nearly snapped my head off when I
asked if he had sent it. I should not have thought much of that, if he
had not denied it in so many words, for he might have been trying to put
me off; but after what he said there can be no more doubt on the
subject. I wonder who could have sent it? Mrs Thornton says she will
never rest till she finds out."

Jack flicked the pony impatiently.

"Why can't she be content to take it quietly, and not worry any more?
That's the worst of women--they must make a fuss! If the man who sent
it wanted to be thanked, he would have put in a card. If he didn't, it
shows that he prefers to be anonymous, and it's bad taste to go
ferreting round trying to find out what she is not intended to know. I
should tell her so straight, if I were you."

"No, you wouldn't, because, being a woman, you would be consumed with
curiosity, as I am. Now, I wonder why you said the `man'?" queried
Mollie, tilting her head on one side, and staring at him with
mischievous eyes. "What makes you think it was a man? Couldn't it as
easily have been a woman?"

"Oh, quite; but I prefer to use one pronoun and stick to it, instead of
muddling them up as you do. Why are you always in such a hurry to snap
a fellow up?" cried Jack irritably.

Mollie made a naughty little _moue_.

"I thought it was the other way about! I was most mild and lamb-like,
when you snubbed me for my grammar, abused my sex, and accused me of bad
temper. It shows how little you know of my beautiful disposition!"

Jack flicked the pony again, his face darkened by a frown.

"No, I don't know you--how should I? You never give me a chance. You
show me only the frivolous side of your character. You are always
laughing, joking, frivolling. In all these weeks I have only once had a
glimpse of your real self. You evidently do not wish me to know you in
any real or intimate sense; but that is your own fault, not mine."

"If you have seen it only once, it cannot be my real self," said Mollie
quietly. She had grown, not red but white, as she listened to Jack's
words, and her heart had begun to beat in an agitating fashion hitherto
unknown. She felt as if somebody had suddenly dealt her an unexpected
blow, for until this moment she had fondly imagined herself to be good
friends with Jack Melland. "You do not know me, because, perhaps, there
is nothing to know, beyond the frivolous, silly creature you dislike so
much!"

"There yo