A smile played at his
lips, and his eyes had a gleam of raillery. He heard the girl say in a
soft, quaint voice, just as she turned towards him, "Foolish boy!" By
this he knew that the pretty picture had for its inspiration one of his
own sex.
She faced him, and gave a little cry of surprise. Then their eyes met.
Immediately he made the most elaborate bow of all his life, and she swept
a graceful courtesy. Her face was slightly flushed that this stranger
should have seen, but he carried such an open, cordial look that she
paused, instead of hurrying into the governor's room, as she had seemed
inclined to do.
In the act the string of her hat, slung over her arm, came loose, and the
hat fell to the floor. Instantly he picked it up and returned it.
Neither had spoken a word. It seemed another act of the light pantomime
at the door. As if they had both thought on the instant how droll it
was, they laughed, and she said to him naively: "You have come to visit
the governor? You are a Frenchman, are you not?"
To this in slow and careful English, "Yes," he replied; "I have come from
Canada to see his excellency. Will you speak French?"
"If you please, no," she answered, smiling; "your English is better than
my French. But I must go." And she turned towards the door of the
governor's room.
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