It
was the swiftest glance; but Miss Georgie divined the situation in an
instant.
"Good-bye for the present," she said, and she and her brother passed on.
And now he was more anxious than ever to get away. If Lady Adela and her
sisters were coming to this exhibition, was it not highly probable that
Honnor Cunyngham might be of the party? He did not wish to meet any one
of them; especially did he not care to meet them while he was acting as
escort to Miss Burgoyne. There were reasons which he could hardly
define; he only knew that the clicking of the turnstile on the stair was
an alarming sound, and that he regarded each new group of visitors, as
they came into the room, with a furtive apprehension.
"Oh, very well," Miss Burgoyne said, at length, "let us go." And on the
staircase she again said: "What is it? Are you afraid of meeting the
mamma of some girl you've jilted? Or some man to whom you owe money for
cards? Ah, Master Lionel, when are you going to reform and lead a steady
and respectable life?"
He breathed more freely when he was outside; here, in the crowd, if he
met any one to whom he did not wish to speak, he could be engaged with
his companion and pass on without recognition.
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