It
was a great trial for him to attend the picnic that afternoon, but he
met it bravely, and schooled himself to appear as if there were no
such things in the world as aching hearts and cruel disappointments.
His face was very pale, but his recent headache would account for
that, and he acted his part successfully, shivering a little, it is
true, when Anna expressed her sorrow that he should suffer so often
from these attacks, and suggested that he take a short vacation and go
with them to Saratoga.
"I should so much like to have you," she said, and her clear, honest
eyes looked him straight in the face, as she asked why he could not.
"What does she mean?" the rector thought. "Is she trying to tantalize
me? I expected her to be natural, as her aunt laid great stress on
that, but she need not overdo the matter by showing me how little she
cares for having hurt me so."
Then, as a flash of pride came to his aid, he thought, "I will at
least be even with her. She shall not have the satisfaction of
guessing how much I suffer," and as Lucy then called to him from the
opposite side of the lawn, he asked Anna to accompany him thither,
just as he would have done a week before.
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