Van Berg, leaning against a pillar near, saw Mr. Mayhew with his
sallow, listless face and lifeless tread mount the steps to greet
his wife and daughter; but, before he could take Ida's hand, Sibley,
in snowy linen and a coat from which the stains and dust of earth
seemed ever kept miraculously, brushed past him, and seizing the
daughter's hand, exclaimed:
"You see I've kept my promise, and am here." And then he whispered
in her ear: "By Jupiter, Miss Ida, you look like a houri just from
Paradise to-night."
Mr. Mayhew paused a moment and looked from the forward youth to
his daughter's scarlet face, frowned heavily, and then gave her
and her mother a very cool greeting before passing on to his room.
Ida could not forbear stealing a look at Van Berg, and her face
grew pale again as she encountered his scornful glance. Pride was
one of her predominant traits, and his manner touched it to the
quick. She resolved to return him scorn for scorn, and to show him
that in spite of her heart that had turned against her and become
his ally, she could still be her old gay self. Therefore she gave
Sibley back his badinage in kind; and in repartee that was bright
and sharp as well as reckless, she answered the compliments of
other gay young fellows who also gathered around her.
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