liane gazed after devereaux's retreating form in bewilderment, her cheeks burning with the thought:
"he was angry because i kissed his hand! oh, why was i so bold? i did not mean to be, but it made my heart ache to see him suffering so cruelly from his defense of my life! how pale he looked—almost as if he were going to faint. oh, i love him!" and she wept despairingly, as she hurried to dolly dorr's, careless now of the beautiful roses that lay crushed upon the ground where they had fallen.
dolly was sitting on her little vine-wreathed porch, singing a pretty love song, and she started in surprise as liane came up the steps.
"why, liane, my dear, what is the matter? you are crying; your cheeks are all wet!" she cried, putting her arms about the forlorn girl, who sobbed:
"may i stay with you all night, dolly? granny has beaten me again, and i have run away!"
"i don't blame you! you should have done it[pg 42] long ago. of course you may stay with me as long as you wish!" replied pretty little dolly, with ready sympathy, that might not have been so warm if she had known all that had transpired between liane and devereaux, on whom she had set her vain little heart.
but liane was too shy and nervous to tell her friend the whole story. she simply explained, when pressed, that granny had beaten her for walking with devereaux that afternoon, and attempted it again because she was late getting home, after altering miss clarke's cape.
"so i ran away to you," she added wearily.
"that was right. we will all make you welcome," said dolly cordially, sure that her father and mother, and her two little brothers, would all make good her promise.
"you should have seen them all peeping out of the window in amazement this afternoon when i came walking up with the grand devereaux at my side," she continued consciously. "i asked him in, and he sat on the porch nearly half an hour talking to me. when he was leaving, i asked him to call again, and pinned some pansies in his buttonhole, and what do you think he said, liane?"
[pg 43]
"i could never guess," the girl answered, with a secret pang of the keenest jealousy.
"he said: 'what exquisite pansies! they remind me of miss lester's eyes—such a rare, purplish blue, with dark shadings."
liane caught her breath with stifled rapture, that he had remembered her, but dolly added wistfully:
"he must have read in my face that i was disappointed at not having a compliment, too, for he went on to say that my eyes were just like bluebells. liane, which are the prettier flowers, pansies or bluebells?"
"i should say that it is all a matter of taste," liane replied gently.
so presently they went upstairs to bed, but dolly was so excited she talked half the night.
"liane, have you heard of the beauty show that is to be held in the town hall next week?" she asked, as she rolled her yellow locks in kid curlers to make them fluffy.
liane shook her head.
"no? why, that is strange. every one is talking about it, and they say that you and i are pretty enough to compete for the prize, although miss[pg 44] roma clarke intends to exhibit her handsomest portrait."
"is it a portrait show?"
"it is this way, liane: a boston artist has a commission to design the outside cover of a magazine for december, and he wants to get a lovely young girl for the central figure—a young girl taken from life. so he has advertised for five hundred pictures of beauties, to be delivered by next week, when they will be exhibited on the walls of the town hall, and judges appointed to decide on the fairest. of course, the artist himself is to be one of the judges, and they say that mr. clarke and mr. devereaux will be two of the others, but i don't know the rest. don't you think it's unfair, liane, to have roma clarke's father and lover for judges? of course, they will show her some partiality in their votes."
liane murmured with dry lips in a choking voice:
"is mr. devereaux miss clarke's lover?"
"so they say, but i hope it's not true. i'm trying to catch him myself," confessed dolly quite frankly. "i don't really think it's fair for miss clarke to compete for the prize, anyway. she ought to leave the chance to some beautiful, poor[pg 45] girl that needs that hundred dollars so much worse than she does!"
"a hundred dollars!" exclaimed liane.
"yes; just think of it! you must try for the prize, liane."
"i don't know; i must think over it first. wouldn't it seem conceited in me? as if i were sure that i was a raging beauty?" doubtfully.
"why, so you are! every one says so, and you can see it for yourself in the glass there! prettier than i am, really!" dolly owned magnanimously.
"small good my pretty face has brought me!" sighed liane.
"well, it may get you that hundred dollars, if you try for it! and it might have gotten you a nice husband long ago, but for your cantankerous old granny! the idea of her slapping you for walking with that splendid devereaux! but i'll give him a hint, when i see him again, never to go near you any more!" exclaimed dolly, quite eager to give the warning, for she thought:
"i didn't like the way he talked about her eyes; for she had certainly made an impression on him, and i'm afraid i shouldn't stand much chance if she went in to win against me. so i'm glad of granny's opposition for once! if i'm lucky[pg 46] enough to marry him, i'll have liane at my house for a long visit, and introduce her to some good catches."
liane little dreamed of these shrewd thoughts in the pretty, little, yellow noddle, while dolly prattled on:
"you have not seen the artist, either, have you? his name is malcolm dean, and he's quite a handsome fellow. i wish one of us could catch him, liane! why, i've heard he gets a fortune for everything he designs, and that magazine has promised him a fortune for their december cover."
"we had better go to sleep, dolly, or we will be too tired to go to work in the morning," suggested liane, and dolly obediently shut her eyes and drifted off into dreamland.
