Page did not know what to reply. Hilda had assured him in days past that no one could help seeing that Mrs. Van Tassel was unwilling Jack should ask Mildred to go to the Fair with him, and now this frank avowal of jealousy perplexed him greatly.
"But what—what mystifies me, Mrs. Van Tassel," he said hesitatingly, "is that you should care for a gift—but there are limits to a man’s right to express his thoughts."
Clover laughed out mirthfully. "Analyze me. I am perfectly willing, only it will necessitate exposing the fact that my sister is a very saucy girl."
Page regarded her so earnestly that he nearly stumbled over a wheeled chair that grazed him.
"I don’t understand it at all," he said seriously.
"Of course not. Well, I will tell you. Jack bought this lamp for Mildred; and she, to punish him for some offense, forced him to give it to me in the way you heard. She doesn’t know that I saw through it; but now I do not propose that she shall have the fun and the lamp too."
Page found the Midway grow a trifle cheerier under this disclosure. "Of course not," he answered; then, after a moment’s thoughtfulness: "That was a strange prank for your sister to play," he added. "I fear I shouldn’t have known how to yield as easily to the joke as Jack did."
"Oh, he stuttered a good deal, poor fellow," laughed Clover. "Mildred is a spoiled child."
"Not so superficial, though, as one would at first believe," returned Gorham. "There is plenty of depth to her nature. Society educates a girl to seem shallow, that is all."
Clover looked surprised and pleased. She glanced at Page with quick, responsive feeling.
"It is very nice of you to see through Mildred," she said, and Page felt a strange glow under her approval.
"The folly of Hilda," he thought, "in supposing this woman could be jealous of another!"
There was something too in the quiet joyousness of her sphere which assured him that whatever were her sentiments for Jack, she was not longing for his society now. She was content, he felt it, and the knowledge was bliss to him.
"I wonder how soon we are going to be attracted," remarked Clover, after they had walked a minute in silence.
Page turned to her suddenly. "What do you mean by that?" he asked so eagerly that the surprised color rushed to his companion’s face.