And she dared not show it. She forced herself to do her best
acting, sipping her tea with a steady hand. And what made her
situation harder was that two of the party, Larry and Hunt, were
treating her with the charmed deference they might accord a charming
stranger, when a word from either of them might destroy the fragile
edifice of her deception.
At last it was over, and all was ready for her to start back to town
with Dick. When Miss Sherwood kissed her and warmly begged her to come
again soon, the very last of her control seemed to be slipping from
her--but she held on. Larry and Hunt she managed to say goodbye to in
the manner of her new acquaintanceship.
"Isn't she simply splendid!" exclaimed Miss Sherwood when Dick had
stepped into the car and the two had started away.
Larry pretended not to have heard. He felt precariously guilty toward
this woman who had befriended him. The next instant he had forgotten
Miss Sherwood and his pulsing thoughts were all on Maggie in that
speeding car. She had been profoundly shaken by that afternoon's
experience, this much he knew. But what was going to be the real
effect upon her of his carefully thought-out design? Was it going to
be such as to save her and Dick?--and eventually win her for himself?
In the presence of Miss Sherwood Larry tried to behave as if nothing
had happened more than the pleasant interruption of an informal tea:
but beneath that calm all his senses were waiting breathless, so to
speak, for news of what had happened within Maggie, and what might be
happening to her.
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