w, Bob, not too many
sheep's-eyes, please!"

Bob smiled, and let fly a wicked glance at Laura from under his dark
lashes. Dropping behind, they began to mount the hill. Now was the
moment, felt Laura, to say something very witty, or pert, or clever;
and a little pulse in her throat beat hard, as she furiously racked her
brains. Oh, for just a morsel of Tilly's loose-tonguedness! One after
the other she considered and dismissed: the pleasant coolness of the
morning, the crowded condition of the street, even the fact of the next
day being Sunday--ears and cheeks on fire, meanwhile, at her own
slow-wittedness. And Bob smiled. She almost hated him for that smile.
It was so assured, and withal so disturbing. Seen close at hand his
teeth were whiter, his eyes browner than she had believed. His upper
lip, too, was quite dark; and he fingered it incessantly, as he waited
for her to make the onslaught.

But he waited in vain; and when they had walked a whole street-block in
this mute fashion, it was he who broke the silence.

"Ripping girls, those Woodwards," he said, and seemed to be remembering
their charms.

"Yes, they looked very nice," said Laura in a small voice, and was
extremely conscious of her own thirteen years.

"Simply stunning! Though May's so slender--May's the pretty one--and
has such a jolly figure ... I believe I could span her waist with my
two hands ... her service is just A1--at tennis I mean."

"Is it really?" said Laura wanly, and felt unutterably depressed at the
turn the conversation was taking.--Her own waist was coarse, her
knowledge of tennis of the slightest.

"Ra-THER! Overhand, with a cut on it--she plays with a 14-oz. racquet.
And she has a back drive, too, by Jove, that--you play, of course?"

"Oh, yes." Laura spoke up manfully; but prayed that he would not press
his inquiries further. At this juncture his attention was diverted by
the passing of a fine tandem; and as soon as he brought it back to her
again, she said: 'You're at Trinity, aren't you?'--which was finesse;
for she knew he wasn't.

"Well, yes ... all but," answered Bob well pleased. "I start in this
winter."

"How nice!"

There was another pause; then she blurted out: "We church girls always
wear Trinity colours at the boat-race."

She hoped from her heart, this might lead him to say that he would look
out for her there; but he did nothing of the kind. His answer was to
the effect that this year they jolly well expect