“And if you think it ‘s improper,” she exclaimed, “it ‘s not my invention—it ‘s Miss Vivian’s.”
“I beg pardon—it ‘s mine,” said Captain Lovelock. “I desire the credit of it. I started the idea; you never would have come without me.”
“I think it would have been more proper to come without you than with you,” Blanche declared. “You know you ‘re a dreadful character.”
“I ‘m much worse when I ‘m away from you than when I ‘m with you,” said Lovelock. “You keep me in order.”
The young girl gave a little cry.
“I don’t know what you call order! You can’t be worse than you have been to-night.”
Angela was not listening to this; she turned away a little, looking about at the empty garden.
“This is the third time to-day that you have contradicted yourself,” he said. Though he spoke softly he went nearer to her; but she appeared not to hear him—she looked away.
“You ought to have been there, Mr. Longueville,” Blanche went on. “We have had a most lovely night; we sat all the evening on Mrs. Vivian’s balcony, eating ices. To sit on a balcony, eating ices—that ‘s my idea of heaven.”
“With an angel by your side,” said Captain Lovelock.