It was not to play eavesdropper upon any of these that the uninvited Joe had come.He was not there to listen, and it is possible that, had the curtains of other windows afforded him the chance to behold the dance, he might not have risked the dangers of his present position.He had not the slightest interest in the whispered coquetries that he heard; he watched only to catch now and then, over the shoulders of the dancers, a fitful glimpse of a pretty head that flitted across the window--the amber hair of Mamie Pike.He shivered in the draughts; and the floor of the porch was cement, painful to elbow and knee, the space where he lay cramped and narrow; but the golden bubbles of her hair, the shimmer of her dainty pink dress, and the fluffy wave of her lace scarf as she crossed and recrossed in a waltz, left him, apparently, in no discontent.He watched with parted lips, his pale cheeks reddening whenever those fair glimpses were his.At last she came out to the veranda with Eugene and sat upon a little divan, so close to Joe that, daring wildly in the shadow, he reached out a trembling hand and let his fingers rest upon the end of her scarf, which had fallen from her shoulders and touched the floor.She sat with her back to him, as did Eugene.
"You have changed, I think, since last summer,"he heard her say, reflectively.
"For the worse, ma cherie?" Joe's expression might have been worth seeing when Eugene said "ma cherie," for it was known in the Louden household that Mr.Bantry had failed to pass his examination in the French language.
"No," she answered."But you have seen so much and accomplished so much since then.You have become so polished and so--" She paused, and then continued, "But perhaps I'd better not say it; you might be offended.""No.I want you to say it," he returned, confidently, and his confidence was fully justified, for she said:
"Well, then, I mean that you have become so thoroughly a man of the world.Now I've said it!