Mrs. Storey welcomed her new acquaintance with great warmth, advancing rapidly to meet them, with a huge bouquet held fiercely in her hand like a Lancer charging the foe. "Very glad to see you, Miss Vernon, and your grandpa, looking so well--Mr. Storey, Colonel Vernon, Miss Vernon, &c." Mr. Storey was a rubicund, jolly looking man, not yet absolutely fat, but promising well for the time to come; slightly bald, with small twinkling eyes, and an inveterate affection for the letter R; moreover, he constantly held his hands in his trowsers' pockets; laughed often a fat laugh, had an unmistakeable air of prosperity, and was altogether what Mrs. Storey, called, "very good company." "Happy to see you, Miss Vernon, happy to see you, sir; just a few friends, what my friend Jones calls a "tea fight," that's his interpretation of "a _soirée_." Langley here disengaged himself, rather abruptly, from a group of two or three bold, confident-looking girls, and pale dishevelled men, evidently artistic, to greet the Vernons, very warmly for him. "Let me get you a seat, Miss Vernon," said Mrs. Storey, drawing Kate towards the group Mr. Langley had just left. "Sorry I was out when you called yesterday. Did you arrange with Mrs. Potter?" "Yes, and I have to thank you and Mr. Langley for procuring me my first pupils." "Oh, I was very glad." "Miss Dent," said Mrs. Storey to one of the dashing looking young ladies, before mentioned, "let me introduce Miss Vernon, you are both very musical; Miss Vernon plays beautifully, I am told; we hope to hear her farther on in the evening--Miss Charlotte Dent." And Kate, to her dismay, was left to the tender mercies of these evidently "very fashionable," girls, who were, "_en grande tenue_," with the lowest cut dresses, and shortest sleeves permissible in society. "Been long in town?" said the eldest, (after a deliberate survey of Miss Vernon's simple costume,) in a bold and rather deep toned voice. Kate replied courteously, and turned to see what had become of the Colonel; he was engaged, apparently, in interesting conversation with Mr. Langley, and satisfied that he did not feel lonely, she gave her attention to the people round her. "Were you ever in town before?" continued her examiner. "Oh, yes, for some time, three years ago." "Horrid place at this time of year. I am counting the days until I start for Germany." Here one of Langley's dishevelled friends, from some change in the surrounding group (for the rooms were now almost crowded), suddenly stepped back, and in so doing, trod on Miss Vernon's dress; he begged pardon with much empressement, in a manner which bespoke him to be no common man; he was pale, thin and foreign-looking, with deep sunk, flashing eyes, wild hair, and an unsteady expression of countenance. "I am always doing these sort of things, and have vowed a hundred times never to brave the dangers of a _soirée_ again; but," he shrugged his shoulders.