"Neither did I--but this chance meeting might have happened anywhere."
"Yes----" Jeanie straightened herself, and they both walked on in silence. They were shown their places, and Frank Weston glanced at the name on his other side; Mrs. Arbuthnot. Jeanie had Colonel Arbuthnot on her other side. They need not speak to each other. How terrible! Jeanie searched for Maud, but she was on the same side and could not be seen. Her heart beat so fast she could hardly speak. She looked for Toney, someone to appeal to. Was she near Frank? Yes, Frank was here, sitting beside her; but of course he hated her. Of course, he was wishing himself miles away; of course, he would _never_ forgive her, never, never love her again. Never--never, she repeated to herself.
Toney's eyes, which saw so much, were looking at them; she could see they were silent, and she noticed they each turned to their other neighbours. Oh! her plan was failing, had failed, and she had risked everything on this dinner. Maud was looking deadly pale, but in spite of all this the talk was loud, drowning nearly everything. Mr. Hales at her side broke the spell.
"You are very preoccupied this evening, and yet you have secured the one man everyone wants to hear," he said. "Are you not satisfied?" His voice had a new tone in it, which made Toney look up wonderingly.
"Oh, yes, I am preoccupied; so would you be if you had conspired tremendously and your conspiracy was no good."
"Mr. Hales, help me! Mr. Frank Weston isn't talking one scrap to Jeanie Hamilton."
"He has come to play the violin, and I daresay he is not a good conversationalist."
"It's not that, you don't know her story; he was in love with Jeanie once, and she loved him really, but she sent him away because his father had a shop and sold something, and now she's just frightfully sorry she did it, and--but he doesn't look as if he was forgiving her. What would you do?"
"I should never have hazarded the meeting--never."
"Was I wrong? Oh, but of course she _is_ sorry, and--but I wish they would notice each other. If I were her I should just say I knew I was a born fool when I said no." Mr. Hales laughed.
"I don't think _you_ would ever have said no for that reason!"