Cissie's own interest in historic furniture and textiles came to an
abrupt conclusion. She gave a deep sigh and settled back into her chair.
She sat looking at Peter seriously, almost distressfully, as he came
toward her.
With the closing of the curtains and the establishment of a real privacy
Peter became aware once again of the sweetness and charm Cissie always
held for him. He still wondered what had brought her, but he was no
longer uneasy.
"Perhaps I'd better build a fire," he suggested, quite willing now to
make her visit seem not unusual.
"Oh, no,"--she spoke with polite haste,--"I'm just going to stay a
minute. I don't know what you'll think of me." She looked intently at
him.
"I think it lovely of you to come." He was disgusted with the triteness
of this remark, but he could think of nothing else.
"I don't know," demurred the octoroon, with her faint doubtful smile.
"Persons don't welcome beggars very cordially."
"If all beggars were so charming--" Apparently he couldn't escape
banalities.
But Cissie interrupted whatever speech he meant to make, with a return
of her almost painful seriousness.
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