But
Sir John presently descried a learned fellow-Aesculapian and stopped for
a chat with him; while Blake soon afterward succumbed to the glance and
smile of a red-cheeked English beauty. Collins, however, stuck grimly to
his post, being above--or below--such human weaknesses.
"There they are!" cried Vernon, suddenly, with brightening eyes.
"Who?" asked Collins, following his gaze. "Oh, the Rush ford girls. I
suppose it will be polite to show our gratitude. I think we owe them a
vote of thinks, don't you?"
"I certainly do," agreed Vernon, straightening himself in his chair with
a vigour which had nothing of the invalid about it. "Will you introduce
me?"
"If I can snare them without being too intrusive," assented Collins,
who, since the success of his stratagem of the afternoon before, had
been in an unusually complaisant mood.
But fate willed that they should be snared without any effort on his
part whatever, for just then a porter came by with a truck piled high
with luggage, and it and the invalid chair combined to form an impasse
from which there was no escaping. Not that either of the young ladies
displayed any very evident anxiety to escape.
"Good-morning," said Collins, in his best manner. "My lord," he
continued, turning to his companion, "these are the Misses Rushford, to
whom we owe so much.
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