Now she perceived that Bertie's affection for her by no means made him
insensible to the bright eyes of the fair Canadians; yet the more she
cared for his philandering interludes with other girls the less she
showed it, except that her manner grew colder, though, unfortunately, her
heart did not.

Major Fane was disappointed with Cecil's preoccupied mood. He had taken
some pains to secure her for this drive, and she hadn't a word to say to
him. He certainly admired her, but, perhaps, it was more his horror of
Canadian girls that had made her his choice for the day. He always said
their only idea of conversation was chaff, and rudeness under cover of
it; and as he had been the victim of many such "smart" speeches, he
looked upon them with nervous aversion.

The quiet repose of a lady-like English girl gained by the contrast.
There was rather too much tranquillity to-day, perhaps; so he exerted
some tact to draw Cecil from her reserve, the cause of which he was
unable to guess. He agreed with her in reviling the monotony and
stupidity of sleighing picnics, having to follow one by one like a string
of geese, long after one was perished with cold, though he failed to
detect in her weariness that she was wishing for her father to stop at
the Tremaines', and annex the truant sleigh to the rest.

Her discontent somewhat relieved by expression, she became ashamed of her
unsociability, and Major Fane's next topic was not uncongenial. He was
airing his cherished grudge, and pronouncing a severe philippic on the
belles of the Dominion. Cecil was incapable of detraction, or envy at
another's greater success; but in the face of Bertie's abduction of Lilla
before her eyes, she did not feel particularly in charity with any