This was the man who saw her with Captain Murrell
yesterday I What must he think of her! There was a brief moment
of irresolution and then she bowed coldly.
"You just barely managed it. I reckon nobody could misunderstand
that. By no means cordial--but of course not!" Carrington
reflected. His own handsome face had been expressionless when he
returned her bow, and Betty could not have guessed how consoled
and comforted he was by it. With great fortitude and self-denial
he forbore to look in her direction again, but he lingered at the
table until the last moment that he might watch her when she
returned to the coach. Mr. Carrington entertained ideals where
women were concerned, and even though he had been the one to
profit by it he would not have had Betty depart in the minutest
particular from those stringent rules he laid down for her sex.
Consequently that distant air she bore toward him filled him with
satisfaction. It was quite enough for the present--for the
present--that three times each day his perseverance and
determination were rewarded by that curt little acknowledgment of
her indebtedness to him.
It was four days to Richmond. Four days of hot, dusty travel,
four nights of uncomfortable cross-road stations, where Betty
suffered sleepless nights and the unaccustomed pangs of early
rising. She occasionally found herself wondering who Carrington
was. She approved of the manner in which he conducted himself.
She liked a man who could be unobtrusive.
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