"It’s a risk for me, lest I lose you, but I ’ll present a few of these chaps to you, first, so if you care to dance----" "I don’t--truly." "I ’m glad. But I ’ll do it, for the sake of my conscience," and Murray began the task on the spot. Half a dozen youths accordingly bowed ceremoniously to Jane, gazed with interest at her charming face, said something or other in the way of an attempt at conversation, and got away again. Not one asked Jane to dance. "She needs Olive’s guardianship, not mine," thought Murray, resentfully. "If Olive backed her up, the rest would accept her in a jiffy. But Olive won’t do it--I know that well enough,--so I ’ll do my best in my way, and thank my stars for the chance. There is n’t a girl in the house to match her, that’s sure." The moment that his duties in the reception-room were over Murray convoyed Jane away to one of the attractive retreats he had mentioned, a beflowered nook on the staircase landing, from which they could view the hall below, and see the greater part of the long drawing-room, where the dancing had begun. Strains of gay music from the orchestra floated pleasantly up to them. "Now this is something like!" said Murray, sinking back upon the soft divan behind the palms. He pulled off his gloves as he spoke, rolled them into a ball and crammed them into his pocket. He did not put them on again that evening--a bit of kindliness which two guests understood and appreciated. "If I ’m not monopolising the host when he ought to be looking after his other guests," replied Jane, as her eyes followed the distant dancers. "If there is any monopoly, I ’m the guilty one--and enjoying my guilt. Honestly, Miss Bell, it’s a fine chance for me to get acquainted with my neighbour, if she ’ll let me. And as for my being missed--" A shake of the head told Jane more than its owner meant of his loneliness, at which she had hitherto only guessed. Meanwhile, Peter had also fallen into friendly hands, if youthful ones. Shirley, allowed to play a modest part in the affairs of the evening, but finding nobody willing to give her more than a smile and nod, fell upon Peter as a possible ally. He had been standing at one side of the crush, in the doorway of the drawing-room, looking on with interested eyes, but feeling a trifle deserted, nevertheless, when he felt a warm little hand slide into his own. Looking down, surprised, he met Shirley’s friendly smile. "You don’t know many people, do you?" asked that frank young person. "I don’t know anybody," returned Peter. "No, I ought not to say that, for your brother Forrest presented me to a number of girls. But I don’t know how to dance, and they soon left me for livelier company." "’Nobody asks me to dance, either," said Shirley, "because Olive would n’t invite any boys of my age, and the big ones want the big girls."