more than a sentence to you in a place like that. You are always the
centre of a group–a fact which you may have noticed yourself. But if
one might come here–”
“Indeed you would always find a hearty welcome, Mr. Buckstone. I have
often wished you would come and tell me more about Cairo and the
Pyramids, as you once promised me you would.”
“Why, do you remember that yet, Miss Hawkins? I thought ladies’ memories
were more fickle than that.”
“Oh, they are not so fickle as gentlemen’s promises. And besides, if I
had been inclined to forget, I–did you not give me something by way of a
remembrancer?”
“Did I?”
“Think.”
“It does seem to me that I did; but I have forgotten what it was now.”
“Never, never call a lady’s memory fickle again! Do you recognize this?”
“A little spray of box! I am beaten–I surrender. But have you kept
that all this time?”
Laura’s confusion was very, pretty. She tried to hide it, but the more
she tried the more manifest it became and withal the more captivating to
look upon. Presently she threw the spray of box from her with an annoyed
air, and said:
“I forgot myself. I have been very foolish. I beg that you will forget
this absurd thing.”
Mr. Buckstone picked up the spray, and sitting down by Laura’s side on
the sofa, said:
“Please let me keep it, Miss Hawkins. I set a very high value upon it
now.”
“Give it to me, Mr. Buckstone, and do not speak so. I have been
sufficiently punished for my thoughtlessness. You cannot take pleasure
in adding to my distress. Please give it to me.”
“Indeed I do not wish to distress you. But do not consider the matter so
gravely; you have done yourself no wrong. You probably forgot that you
had it; but if you had given it to me I would have kept it–and not
forgotten it.”
“Do not talk so, Mr. Buckstone. Give it to me, please, and forget the
matter.”
“It would not be kind to refuse, since it troubles you so, and so I
restore it. But if you would give me part of it and keep the rest–”
“So that you might have something to remind you of me when you wished to
laugh at my foolishness?”
“Oh, by no means, no! Simply that I might remember that I had once
assisted to discomfort you, and be reminded to do so no more.”
Laura looked up, and scanned his face a moment. She was about to break
the twig, but she hesitated and said:
“If I were sure that you– “She threw the spray away, and continued:
“This is silly! We will change the subject. No, do not insist–I must
have my way in this.”
Then Mr. Buckstone drew off his forces and proceeded to make a wily
advance upon the fortress under cover of carefully–contrived artifices
and stratagems of war. But he contended with an alert and suspicious
enemy; and so at the end of two hours it was manifest to him that he had
made but little progress. Still, he had made some; he was sure of that.
Laura sat alone and communed with herself;
“He is fairly hooked, poor thing. I can play him at my leisure and land
him when I choose. He was all ready to be caught, days and days ago–
I saw that, very well. He will vote for our bill–no fear about that;
and moreover he will work for it, too, before I am done with him. If he
had a woman’s eyes he would have noticed that the spray of box had grown
three inches since he first gave it to me, but a man never sees anything
and never suspects. If I had shown him a whole bush he would have
thought it was the same. Well, it is a good night’s work: the committee
is safe. But this is a desperate game I am playing in these days–
a wearing, sordid, heartless game. If I lose, I lose everything–even
myself. And if I win the game, will it be worth its cost after all?