"That is a question! It isn't because you aren't white that I like you."
"_Could_ you like me if I were white?" She stamped impatiently.
She made a little pout, stuck up her chin, turned stiffly, and went out with great dignity. It was the Lentala of the feast!
Beela entered when we had finished breakfast. In her rough clothes and tightly bound hair, she made so sharp a contrast to Lentala that, for a moment, I could not think of her as a girl, but as the dear lad whom I had lost. She had none of her brilliant sparkle now, and my heart ached to see the weariness and anxiety that she tried so bravely to conceal.
"What's afoot for today, dear little brother?" I cheerily inquired.
She was regarding me solemnly. "You've had your wish, I suppose. You've seen Lentala this morning."
"Yes. She brought our breakfast. She's an angel."
"Pooh!" Beela was bored. "I've seen her. She looked a fright in those clothes. Trying to ape Annabel! She ought to have better sense. I know you were disgusted."
"You are tired and cross this morning, lad."
She flopped into a chair, very glum. "Women are _such_ fools!" she grumbled.
"Now I am grieved to learn that Lentala is not a woman, for she could never be a fool."
Beela looked at me with sad reproach, and shook her head.
"Just now," I went on, "she was a rich red rose sparkling with morning dew. Her smile started all the birds to singing. She----"
"Choseph!" She stamped the floor, much as Lentala had done, but a smile fringed her frown. "You _know_ she made a fright of herself trying to look like Annabel,--and with that ugly brown face!"
"No, no, Beelo. The only trouble was that Lentala is too modest to realize how splendidly perfect she is as Lentala."
"But wasn't she still Lentala in those silly clothes?"
"She was as much less Lentala as her effort to be something else succeeded in making her."
Beela looked puzzled exactly as Lentala had.
"But her heart is broken!" she cried. "She says that you laughed at her, and spoke in riddles!"
"I laughed _with_ her, Beelo, not _at_ her; and the riddles were a bit that I put in my mouth."
"The temptation to say beautiful things to Lentala that might sound insincere is strong."
She rose, with a confusion that was half amusement, and tried to hide the light in her eyes.