Why, if Frederick did come she would only bore him.
Hadn't she seen in a flash quite soon after getting to San Salvatore
that that was really what kept him away from her? And why should she
suppose that now, after such a long estrangement, she would be able not
to bore him, be able to do anything but stand before him like a
tongue-tied idiot, with all the fingers of her spirit turned into
thumbs? Besides, what a hopeless position, to have as it were to
beseech: Please wait a little--please don't be impatient--I think
perhaps I shan't be a bore presently.
A thousand times a day Rose wished she had let Frederick alone.
Lotty, who asked her every evening whether she had sent her letter yet,
exclaimed with delight when the answer at last was yes, and threw her
arms round her. "Now we shall be completely happy!" cried the
enthusiastic Lotty.
But nothing seemed less certain to Rose, and her expression
became more and more the expression of one who has something on her
mind.
Mr. Wilkins, wanting to find out what it was, strolled in the sun
in his Panama hat, and began to meet her accidentally.
"I did not know," said Mr. Wilkins the first time, courteously
raising his hat, "that you too liked this particular spot." And he sat
down beside her.
In the afternoon she chose another spot; and she had not been in
it half an hour before Mr.
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