He even tried it under his breath softly.
Betty--Betty Malroy--next he fell to wondering if those few hurried words she had addressed to him could possibly be construed as forming a basis for a further acquaintance.

Or wasn't it far more likely she would prefer to forget the episode of the previous day, which had clearly been anything but agreeable?
All through the morning they swung forward in the heat and dust and glare, with now and then a brief pause when they changed horses, and at midday rattled into the shaded main street of a sleepy village and drew up before the tavern where dinner was waiting them--a fact that was announced by a bare-legged colored boy armed with a club, who beat upon a suspended wagon tire.
Betty saw Carrington when she took her seat, and gave a scarcely perceptible start of surprise.

Then her face was flooded with a rich color.

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.