"Please let me take that out of your way," said Ida, stepping
hastily forward with crimson cheeks.
"Don't trouble yourself, Miss Mayhew; fortune is favoring me once
more, and I am on the point of discovering the favorite author you
would not mention this morning. An encyclopedia, as I live! from
A to B, with a hair-pin inserted sharply at the word Amsterdam.
Really, Miss Ida, I can't account for your absorbing interest in
Amsterdam."
"Mr. Van Berg, there is no use in trying to hide anything from you.
You find me out every time and I'm really growing superstitious
about it."
"I wish your words were true; but, for the life of me, I can't
understand why you should crave encyclopaedias as August reading,
nor can I see the remotest connection between the exquisite color
of your face and the old Dutch city of Amsterdam."
"Well, the Fates are against me once more. Why I left that book
there I don't know, for I'm not usually so careless. Mr. Van Berg,
I scarcely need to remind you of a fact that you discovered long
ago--I don't know anything. Do you not remember how you tried to
talk with me one evening? You touched on almost as many subjects
as that huge volume contains, and my face remained as vacant through
them all as the blank pages in that book before the printed matter
begins.
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