"Lowell!"
"Yes, sir!"
"What are you doing?"
"Answering that batch of letters that came by the morning delivery."
"Well, stop! I'm tired of it. It seems to me that you do nothing
eternally but work from morning until night!"
The sweet face was lifted, all dimpled with smiles.
"Was not that what you engaged me for?"
"Not exclusively. I don't want any fellow to make himself a slave for
me. Are you going to the Dorlans to-night?"
"No, sir."
"Why?"--testily.
"Well, I don't know any one, sir, and it did not seem to me that I
should be missed. It was very kind of Mr. Dorlan to ask me, but I did
not think that he expected me to accept. He only did it because he
thought you would like it."
"Then you acknowledge that you have not as much consideration for my
feelings as he has."
"I don't see how you make that, sir."
"He, you say, invited you because I wanted him to, and you won't go,
knowing that I am very anxious that you should!"
"I did not know that, sir!"
"Well, you know it now. Are you going?"
"Not if you will excuse me."
"I will not press you if you wish that I should not. By the way,
Lowell, won't you have a cigar?"
The silver case was lifted and held upward for the young man to select
one to his own liking. Half a dozen dimples played about his pretty
mouth as Neil Lowell suppressed an outright laugh.
"I never smoke, thank you, sir," he answered.
"What? Oh, hang it, I always forget you are only a boy. You have so few
of the frivolities of youth that I can never seem to remember that you
are not an old man. I have no prejudice against smoking, though, for
old or young, if not carried to excess. You must learn. It is a great
comfort, and----"
Andrew Pryor paused as the door of his study was thrown open without
permission, and Alice, his youngest daughter, entered.
"Papa," she cried enthusiastically, "I have just had a letter from
Edith. It has been delayed somehow upon the road, and I find by
comparing the dates that she will be here to-night. Isn't that just
perfectly lovely? She said it would be impossible for her to tell
exactly by what train she would arrive, but that we need not trouble to
meet her, as her cousin would be with her, and he could bring her to
the house at once, but that she would arrive in time for dinner! I am
so pleased!"
She threw her arms around the old gentleman's neck, and proceeded to
half suffocate him in her demonstrations of joy.
"Gwen is as happy as I am," she continued, her black eyes dancing with
delight. "I have already planned a thousand different things for her
entertainment. The dinner to-night must be just lovely. Don't you think
I had better invite a few people, impromptu, don't you know?"
"I dare say that would be very pleasant, but I am going to Dorlan's to
a stag dinner," returned Pryor sheepishly, as though knowing that his
absence from home would be regarded very much as a crime.
"Oh, papa!"
The pretty face fell, the corners of the little mouth were drawn
downward, and the tiny hand fell from his shoulder.
"Now then--now then!" cried Pryor, rising and patting her cheeks
lightly. "You need not look as though I had locked you up in the
closet. This dinner has been arranged for a week, and I could not
possibly decline. But that need not hinder your arrangements at all,
for Lowell will be here, and he can act in my place. I shall perhaps be
able to make my own excuses before I leave, and just authorize him to
do the honors. I don't think I would ask any one but Edith's cousin,
then you can make a little family dinner of the first one."
"And are you not going to the stag dinner, Mr. Lowell?" asked Miss
Pryor, lifting her sweet eyes to his face, glowing with good humor
again.
"No."
"That is just lovely of you. I should kiss you if I dared."
"I shall not resist in the least," laughed Neil.
"Well, some other time! Then we shall have the family dinner to-night.
Oh, I shall be so glad to see Edith! I do wonder what her cousin is
like? I hope he will be pleasant and companionable for you, Mr. Lowell."
"That is very kind of you, Miss Alice, but I much prefer the society of
the ladies."
"Right again, Lowell! Gad! you are the most sensible boy I ever saw!"
exclaimed Mr. Pryor admiringly.
"Then we may count upon you for dinner to-night, Mr. Lowell?"
interrupted Alice.
"I am always at your service, Miss Alice."
"That is so good of you. But there is one warning that I have to give
you. Don't fall in love with Edith. She is already engaged, but the
greatest little flirt in existence."
"I am not susceptible, Miss Alice. If I had been----"
A look completed the sentence, a look that brought the quick color to
the pretty, round cheeks, which Neil Lowell was not slow to see.
The girl kissed her father and hurried from the room. The old man
glanced from Lowell to the closed door, and back again, in much
surprise.
"Neil," he said, after a long, thoughtful pause, "that is a subject
upon which jests are not admissible."
"I understand you, sir, and I beg that you will feel no anxiety
whatever upon that point. I am too young to fear."
"No, you are not. Your face is unusually handsome, and---- Remember,
boy, I do not speak for my daughter's sake alone, but yours as well."
"I made up my mind, Mr. Pryor, some time ago, and I shall keep to my
resolution, that I shall never marry. I beg that you will feel no
concern for either me or--for her. Will you excuse me? We neither of
us have much time in which to dress for dinner."
Andrew Pryor nodded a consent, and with infinite amusement in his
heart, and amusement that was to be piteously short-lived, Neil Lowell
sought his room to dress for that dinner that was to linger long in his
memory.