So Philip went to the concert and ball. Lord Camberley vouchsafed him a couple of fingers and "how d'ye do," and introduced him to his aunt, the Hon. Mrs. Featherstone. Philip sat through the concert without speaking to anybody. He was glad when it came to an end, and then he made his way to the ball-room. There he met several people with whom he was, more or less, acquainted. Presently his eye caught that of Mrs. Ducie, who was sitting somewhat apart from the general crush. She beckoned him to her side, and held out her hand with a frank smile. "What a truant you are. What have you been doing with yourself all this long time?" as she made room for him to sit beside her. Philip told her, his laughing eyes bending in admiration on her face, that he had been staying for some weeks at Norwich, and that he had twice called at The Lilacs since his return, but had not found her at home. She listened in her pretty, engaging, attentive manner. "Do you dance?" she asked him, as another set was forming. "I do not care to--unless you will stand up with me," he replied. "I shall not dance to-night. Lord Camberley came up to ask me, but I said no: I told him I had sprained my foot. I do not much like Lord Camberley," she added, confidentially--and Philip felt wonderfully flattered at the confidence. "He often talks at random--and he is so fond of playing for high stakes at cards. I told Ferdinand the other day that I should object, were I in his place; but, as he said, it does not often happen. Ferdinand, with his income, can afford a loss occasionally; but everybody is not so fortunate." It seemed to Philip that she looked at him with a kindly meaning as she spoke. Could it be that she felt an especial interest in him? A blush, bright and ingenuous as a schoolgirl's, rose to his face. He sat by Mrs. Ducie a great part of the evening, and took her down to supper. Captain Lennox came up several times, and they both invited him for the following Friday evening. When Friday evening came, and Philip found himself again at The Lilacs, and knocked at the well-remembered door, it seemed to him as if the intervening weeks and all that had happened to him since his last visit were nothing more substantial than a dream.