"We had better go straight to the ball-room and dance in," he said. "No one will have missed us long. We've only been absent about a quarter of an hour." "So much in such a little time!" she said, softly. He smiled, answering the adoring look of her eyes with his own amorous glance, and in another few seconds they were part of the brilliant whirl of dancers now crowding the ball-room and swinging round in a blaze of colour and beauty to the somewhat hackneyed strains of the "Fruhlings Reigen." And as they floated and flew, the delight of their attractiveness to each other drew them closer together till the sense of separateness seemed lost and whelmed in a magnetic force of mutual comprehension. When this waltz was finished she was claimed by many more partners, and danced till she was weary,--then, between two "extras," she went in search of Miss Leigh, whom she found sitting patiently in one of the great drawing-rooms, looking somewhat pale and tired. "Oh, my godmother!" she exclaimed, running up to her. "I had forgotten how late it is getting!" Miss Lavinia smiled cheerfully. "Never mind, child!" she said. "You are young and ought to enjoy yourself. I am old, and hardly fit for these late assemblies--and how very late they are too! When I was a girl we never stayed beyond midnight--" "And is it midnight now?" asked Innocent, amazed, turning to her partner, a young scion of the aristocracy, who looked as if he had not been to bed for a week. He smiled simperingly, and glanced at his watch. "It's nearly two o'clock," he said. "In fact it's tomorrow morning!" Just then Jocelyn came up. "Are you going?" he inquired. "Well, perhaps it's time! May I see you to your carriage?" Miss Leigh gratefully accepted this suggestion--and Innocent, smiling her "good-night" to partners whom she had disappointed, walked with her through the long vista of rooms, Jocelyn leading the way. They soon ran the gauntlet of the ladies' cloak-room and the waiting mob of footmen and chauffeurs that lined the long passage leading to the entrance-hall, and Jocelyn, going out into the street succeeded in finding their modest little hired motor-brougham and assisting them into it. "Good-night, Miss Leigh!" he said, leaning on the door of the vehicle and smiling at them through the open window--"Good-night, Miss Armitage! I hope you are not very tired?" "I am not tired at all!" she answered, with a thrill of joy in her voice like the note of a sweet bird. "I have been so very happy!" He smiled. His face was pale and looked unusually handsome,--she stretched one little hand out to him. "Good-night, 'Sieur Amadis!'" He bent down and kissed it. "Good-night!" The motor began to move--another moment, and they were off. Innocent sank back in the brougham with a sigh. "You are tired, child!--you must be!" said Miss Leigh. "No, godmother mine! That sigh was one of pleasure. It has been a most wonderful evening!--wonderful!"