.

.

Turn your back; I'm sniveling." A moment afterward she had calmed completely; and now she stole a curious side glance at the boy and blushed a little when he looked back at her earnestly.

Then she smiled and quietly withdrew the hand he had been holding so tightly in both of his.
"So there we are, my poor friend," she concluded with a shrug; "the old penny shocker, you know, 'Alone in a great city!'-- I've dropped my handkerchief." "I want you to believe me your friend," said Gerald, in the low, resolute voice of unintentional melodrama.
"Why, thank you; are you so sure you want that, Gerald ?" "Yes, as long as I live!" he declared, generous emotion in the ascendant.

A pretty woman upset him very easily even under normal circumstances.