A stroll
through the gardens was proposed, and Lady Mazerod sent the young people
off alone. There was no choice; but Dora had probably no thought of
making a choice, had such been offered to her. She, like many another
young lady, erred in placing too great a confidence in her own powers of
staving things off.
There was no doubt whatever about Edith and the energetic John. They led
the way round by the river path and the tennis-courts with a sublime
disregard for the eye of the multitude, leaving Dora and Arthur to follow
at such speed as their discretion might dictate.
Before they had left the tennis-lawn Arthur plunged. It may have been the
desperation of diffidence, or perhaps that the new grey suit and the
unique tie lent him confidence. One sees a young lady completely carried
off her mental status by the success of a dress or the absence of a
dreaded competitor, and Arthur Agar had enough of the woman in him to
give way to this dangerous vertigo.
"Dora," he said, "you have not answered my last three letters.
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