And Darrell was silent, still bewildered by the twofold revelation which

had so suddenly come to him; the revelation of the lovely womanhood at

his side, to which he had, until now, been blind, and of the love within

his own heart, of which, till now, he had been unconscious.

Before they had completed two turns up and down the corridor the music

ceased as suddenly as it had begun.

"Oh, that was heavenly! It seemed like a dream!" Kate exclaimed, with a

sigh.

"It seemed a very blessed bit of reality to me," Darrell laughed in

return, drawing her arm within his own as they proceeded towards the

stairs.

"You are a superb dancer; now you certainly can have no scruples about

claiming some waltzes," Kate replied, withdrawing her arm and again

placing her programme in his hands.

As they paused at the head of the stairs while Darrell complied with her

request, a chorus of voices was heard in the hall below.

"Kate, are you never coming?" some one called, and a sprightly brunette

appeared for an instant on the first landing, but vanished quickly at

sight of Darrell.

"Girls!" they heard her exclaim to the merry group below; "would you

believe it? She is taking a base advantage of us; she has discovered

what we did not suppose existed in this house--a young man--and is

getting her programme filled in advance!"

Cries of "Oh, Kate, that's not fair!" followed. Kate leaned laughingly

over the balustrade.

"He's an angel of a dancer, girls," she called, "but I'll promise not to

monopolize him!"

Darrell returned the programme, saying, as they passed down the stairs

together,-"I didn't want to appear selfish, so I only selected three, but give me

more if you can, later."

Kate smiled. "I think," she replied, "you will speedily find yourself in

such demand that I will consider myself fortunate to have secured those

three; but," she added shyly, as her eyes met his, "my first waltz was

with you, and that was just as I intended it should be!"

Through the hours which followed so swiftly Darrell was in a sort of

waking dream, a state of superlative happiness, unmarred as yet by

phantoms from the shrouded past or misgivings as to the dim, uncertain

future; past and future were for the time alike forgotten. One image

dominated his mind,--the form and face of the fair young hostess moving

among her guests as a queen amid her court, carrying her daintily poised

head as though conscious of the twofold royal crown of womanhood and

woman's love. One thought surged continuously through and through his

brain,--that she was his, his by the sovereign right of love. Whatever

courtesy he showed to others was for her sake, because they were her

guests, her friends, and when unengaged he stationed himself in some

quiet corner or dimly lighted alcove where, unobserved, he could watch

her movements with their rhythmic grace or catch the music of her voice,

the sight or sound thrilling him with joy so exquisite as to be akin to

pain. The oft-repeated compliments of the crowd about him seemed to him

empty, trite, meaningless; what could they know of her real beauty

compared with himself who saw her through Love's eyes!




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