There was a wistful note in her voice , and Lawrence detecting it , said hurriedly , not giving himself time to get frightened : `` Oh , you 'd better go to this one . And if you like , I 'll call around and take you . '' He wondered if she would think him very presumptuous . He thought her voice sounded colder as she said : `` I am afraid that it would be too much trouble for you . '' `` It would n't be any trouble at all , '' he stammered . `` I 'll be very pleased to take you . '' In the end Bessy had consented to go , and the next evening Lawrence called for her in the rose-red autumn dusk . Bessy was ready and waiting . She was dressed in what was for her unusual elegance , and Lawrence wondered why people called Bessy Houghton so plain . Her figure was strikingly symmetrical and softly curved . Her abundant , dark-brown hair , instead of being parted plainly and drawn back into a prim coil as usual , was dressed high on her head , and a creamy rose nestled amid the becoming puffs and waves . She wore black , as she usually did , but it was a lustrous black silk , simply and fashionably made , with frost-like frills of lace at her firm round throat and dainty wrists . Her cheeks were delicately flushed , and her wood-brown eyes were sparkling under her long lashes . She offered him a half-opened bud for his coat and pinned it on for him . As he looked down at her he noticed what a sweet mouth she had -- full and red , with a half child-like curve . The fact that Lawrence Eastman took Bessy Houghton to the Baileys ' party made quite a sensation at that festal scene . People nodded and winked and wondered . `` An old maid and her money , '' said Milly Fiske spitefully . Milly , as was well known , had a liking for Lawrence herself . Lawrence began to `` go with '' Bessy Houghton regularly after that .
XXXXX his single-mindedness he never feared that Bessy would misjudge his motives or imagine him to be prompted by mercenary designs .
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