'Not before the servants, my dear Margaret,' said Spiridion, bending over her hand. 'Gaetano's ears are remarkably sharp, and he is peculiarly appreciative in such matters.' 'In such matters,' repeated Mrs. Hamblin scornfully. 'Well, you are doubtless right. What an age since I have seen you!' 'To my sorrow,' said Spiridion. 'The world believes me to be an idle man, but you know how really busy I am.' 'I have observed of late that you have had a great deal to do,' said Mrs. Hamblin, in the same tone. 'We were disappointed in not seeing you at dinner last night.' 'You are very good to say so. It seems almost ludicrous to have had an engagement at this time of year, when there is really nothing going on, but some friends of mine had been kind enough to ask me for last night, and I had pledged myself to them days before.' 'And was it pleasant at the Chadwicks'? You need not start; I don't pretend to any powers of divination,' she said, with a short laugh. 'Mr. Chadwick called in to see my husband at breakfast this morning, and told us you had been dining there.' 'O yes, it was very pleasant,' said Spiridion, on whose cheeks the flush seemed permanently fixed. 'Mr. Chadwick, you know, always gives such excellent dinners.' 'And has such pleasant guests. Had you any ladies present?' 'Only the ladies of the family.' 'Ladies of the family,' repeated Mrs. Hamblin. 'I did not know that there was any one except Mrs. Chadwick.' 'O yes, her sister, Miss Eleanor Irvine, was present,' said Spiridion, who began to see plainly that his recent determination had not been taken at all too soon, and to wonder whether he should have pluck enough to carry it out. 'Mrs. Chadwick's sister,' said Mrs. Hamblin. 'O yes, I remember; rather a pretty person--pink and white, is she not? I cannot imagine where I have seen her, for she doesn't go out, I believe.' 'She is in mourning for her father, who is recently dead,' explained Spiridion. 'And yet if this young lady is Mrs. Chadwick's sister, Mrs. Chadwick's father must be recently dead too,' said Mrs. Hamblin, looking straight at him. 'If there is any man in the world who knows what real romance is, or, at least, can pretend to know sufficiently to deceive others, it is you. Do you think this girl pretty?' Two months since Spiridion Pratt would have vowed that he never thought about the girl at all, or, if the point were pressed to him, that he considered her downright ugly; but he had made up his mind now, and perceived that the time to strike had come. 'Yes; I think she is decidedly pretty,' he said. Mrs. Hamblin was disconcerted; she evidently had not anticipated such a reply. After a moment's pause she asked: 'Was that your first time of seeing her? 'O no; I have met her several times before.' 'And talked with her?' 'Yes, as one talks with a young girl whom one only meets at dinners and dances.' 'Ay, as you say, "with a young girl"--you found her rather missish, then?'