"Don't forget that I persuaded you to compete for the prize, although I was afraid all the time you would carry it off from us all."
Every one laughed at Dolly's naïve speech. She was such a frank, pretty little thing, and, next to Liane, the prettiest girl in Miss Bray's employ.
But among all the disappointed ones, no one had been so vexed as to leave the scene like Roma, and it was soon whispered through the room that she had scolded her lover for giving his vote to Liane instead of herself.
"I heard them quarreling; I was just behind Mrs. Clarke," said the lady who had started the report, and she added that Roma had been taken almost fainting to her carriage, unwilling to remain and witness her rival's triumph.
There were many who rejoiced over Roma's defeat, and others who wondered at Devereaux's disloyalty.
He should have paid her the compliment of his vote, since it could have made no difference in the result, they said.
But Devereaux, returning to the hall, eager to speak to Liane, and indifferent to comments on his actions, was forced to stand on the verge of the crowd waiting his turn, till Dolly Dorr, espying him, hastened to his side.
She said to herself that here was one prize, at least, that Liane had not won yet, and she would lose no time trying to make good a claim.
"If he has quarreled with Miss Clarke, so much the better. Hearts are often caught in the rebound," she thought eagerly, as she engaged his attention with some bantering words.
Devereaux smiled kindly on the sunny-haired little maiden, but she found it impossible to engross his attention.
She soon saw that his whole mind was fixed on Liane, and he could not keep from watching her face, until Dolly said quite crossly:
"You are like all the rest! You cannot keep your eyes from off Liane Lester, now that she has taken the beauty prize!"
His brilliant, dark eyes glowed and softened with tenderness, and a passionate flush reddened his smooth olive cheek.
"Perhaps Miss Clarke wouldn't like that so well!"
"What has she to do with my looking at Miss Lester?" he cried impatiently.
Dolly's eyes beamed with joy as she cried gayly:
"Free as the wind--free to look at Miss Lester as much as I choose--or as long as she will allow me."