Cecil must meet him there;
first, to prepare him for Micky's new arrangement, and second, to persuade
him that he does not owe me an offer of marriage in consequence. Cecil
will know how to manage it; he must know! I will not have any more of the
Harshaws offering themselves as substitutes. It will be very strange if I
cannot exist without them somehow."
It struck me that the poor child's boast was a little premature, as she
seemed to be making rather free use of one of the substitutes still, as
a shield against the others; but it was of a piece with the rest of the
comedy. I kept her in bed till she had had a cup of tea; afterward she
slept a little, and about noon she dressed herself and gave Cecil his
audience. But first, at her request, I had possessed him with the main
facts and given him an inkling of what was expected of him. His face
changed; he looked as he did after his steeplechase the day I saw him
first,--except that he was cleaner,--grave, excited, and resolved. He had
taken the bit in his teeth. When substitute meets substitute in a cause
like this! I would have left them to have their little talk by themselves,
but Kitty signified peremptorily that she wished me to stay, with a
flushed, appealing look that softened the nervous tension of her manner.
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