Two very large tables, and a distinguished
company at each, especially at the _trente et quarante._
Before our little party had taken six steps into the room, Zoe stood like
a pointer; and Fanny backed.
Should these terms seem disrespectful, let Fanny bear the blame. It is
her application of the word "chasse" that drew down the simile.
Yes, there sat Ned Severne, talking familiarly to Joseph Ashmead, and
preparing to "put the pot on," as he called it.
Now Zoe was so far gone that the very sight of Severne was a balsam to
her. She had a little bone to pick with him; and when he was out of
sight, the bone seemed pretty large. But when she saw his adorable face,
unconscious, as it seemed, of wrong, the bone faded and the face shone.
Her own face cleared at the sight of him: she turned back to Fanny and
Vizard, arch and smiling, and put her finger to her mouth, as much as to
say, "Let us have some fun. We have caught our truant: let us watch him,
unseen, a little, before we burst on him."
Vizard enjoyed this, and encouraged her with a nod.
The consequence was that Zoe dropped Miss Maitland's arm, who took that
opportunity to turn up her nose, and began to creep up like a young cat
after a bird; taking a step, and then pausing; then another step, and a
long pause; and still with her eye fixed on Severne.
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