herself face downward on the rose-colored sofa and began to
sob violently, her shoulders quivering; burying her head farther and
farther back into the corner of the sofa until it seemed more like a
piled up heap of party finery huddled there than an actual girl.

This was truly Dreadful!

Mr. Bennet stood, man-fashion, helplessly above her, with an
overpowering desire to flee far from those tears; and yet with a strong
conviction, at the same time, that he ought to stay and at least
attempt a justification of what had been so sadly misconstrued, if
there was any earthly way in which it could be justified. He was
willing to say, or to do, anything which she might demand of him, to
straighten it out. The sobs decreased in intensity and so Mr. Bennet
spoke.

"Arethusa...." he began.

Then Arethusa's sobs stopped altogether as abruptly almost as they had
begun, and she rose majestically from the sofa, keeping her
tear-stained face averted.

"I asked you not to speak to me. And I'm going home," not once did she
look, even in his direction. "By myself," she added, positively.

"I can't let you do a thing like that...."

"It has nothing whatever to do with what _you_ can't let, and I shall
scream out loud right here, if you start to try to follow me!"

"Will you let me apologize then, at least, before you go? If you insist
on going?"

"No, you can't apologize. I don't want a single one of your apologies."

Mr. Bennet felt as weak as the proverbial water in the face of such
personified determination as was Arethusa. He meekly permitted her to
leave the little recess of palms and to fly across the ball room floor
while he stood as one hypnotized without moving. When he had recovered
his powers of locomotion sufficiently to follow, she was just coming
out of the dressing room door wrapped in her green cloak. The sight of
the green cloak almost unnerved him again. He had not dreamed that the
child would carry out her wild plan of going home. He had thought that
she might retire to the dressing-room for awhile, but that she would
surely recover before many moments were flown. He took one or two
half-hearted steps forward. The Wonderful Mr. Bennet had no precedent
established for his guidance in this predicament. He was all at sea; no
such situation had ever befallen him before. Arethusa was the only lady
he had ever taken to a Party who had gone home without him. Would
decided pursuit be too undignified; or could he ris