Her tender blue eyes looked up at him, shyly conscious of the pleasure that their expression was betraying; and the neat folds of her pretty grey dress, which had lain so still over her bosom when she was drawing, began to rise and fall gently now, when Zack was holding her hand.

If young Thorpe had not been the most thoughtless of human beings--as much a boy still, in many respects, as when he was locked up in his father's dressing-room for bad behavior at church--he might have guessed long ago why he was the only one of Madonna's old friends whom she did not permit to kiss her on the cheek! But Zack neither guessed, nor thought of guessing, anything of this sort.

His flighty thoughts flew off in a moment from the young lady to his cigar-case; and he walked away to the hearth-rug, twisting up a piece of waste paper into a lighter as he went.
When Madonna returned to her drawing, her eyes wandered timidly once or twice to the place where Zack was standing, when she thought he was not looking at her; and, assuredly, so far as personal appearance was concerned, young Thorpe was handsome enough to tempt any woman into glancing at him with approving eyes.

He was over six feet in height; and, though then little more than nineteen years old, was well developed in proportion to his stature.

His boxing, rowing, and other athletic exercises had done wonders towards bringing his naturally vigorous, upright frame to the perfection of healthy muscular condition.