"No such silly thought ever entered my head. But I will say this--that if there had been twice as many dances, I could have had partners for all of them." "You seem on particularly good terms with your young self this afternoon. I almost wonder how you escaped falling in love with one or other of your partners." "How do you know that I did escape? There were two or three who made themselves especially agreeable. But for anything that may have happened you have only yourself to blame. You ought to have been there to look after me, and keep me out of danger. Mrs. Delisle could easily have managed to get a ticket for you." "My dear Marian, as if I had not already explained to you how utterly impossible it was for me to start on my holidays till late yesterday afternoon! I took the first train after I was at liberty----" "And reached Fairlawn just as papa and mamma were sitting down to dinner. Although you professed to be so exceedingly delighted to see them, mamma told me that she never saw you pull such a dismal face as you did last evening. I wonder why?" "Then you may have the pleasure of wondering, because I shan't tell you why." "Amiable youth!" "But why didn't Mrs. Drelincourt take you to the ball herself, instead of leaving you to be chaperoned by Mrs. Delisle?" "Mamma rarely goes anywhere. In the first place, as you know, her health is very delicate, and, in the second, she wouldn't go anywhere without papa." "Is Mr. Drelincourt, now that he has come back to England, as much of a recluse as he was during the time he lived abroad?" "Just as much. His coming home has made no difference in his mode of life. We see no company, or next to none, and he and mamma visit nowhere." "It seems to me that it must be rather a dull sort of life to lead." "Not at all. You forget for how many years they led the same kind of life abroad. Wet or fine, papa goes out on horseback for a couple of hours every morning. Then, all forenoon he is busy in his laboratory. You may or may not know that he is a fellow of more than one learned society. In the afternoon he and mamma--sometimes taking me with them--drive or walk, and for the evening we have books, chess, and music." "You, at least, must find such an existence very, very quiet." "Quiet, yes; dull, no. Since I left school it is the only kind of life I have known, and I have never longed for any other. Besides"--with a demure glance at the young man--"have I not everything a girl could wish for to make me happy?" "Sweet one!" exclaimed Walter Deane,--as he sprang to his feet. That half veiled glance was more than flesh and blood could withstand. Another instant and his arms would have been about her. But Miss Drelincourt sprang back with a warning finger on her lips. "Hush! I think there's some one coming," she whispered. In point of fact, she thought nothing of the kind. But the pretense answered its purpose. Young Deane slunk back to his seat with rather a shamefaced air.