ngaged upon
whist; in the other and larger one, a great number of youths of both
sexes entertained themselves languidly, the ladies sitting upon chairs
to be courted, the gentlemen standing about in various attitudes of
insinuation or indifference. Conversation appeared the sole resource,
except in so far as it was modified by a number of keepsakes and annuals
which lay dispersed upon the tables, and of which the young beaux
displayed the illustrations to the ladies. Mr. Robbie himself was
customarily in the card-room; only now and again, when he cut out, he
made an incursion among the young folks, and rolled about jovially from
one to another, the very picture of the general uncle.

It chanced that Flora had met Mr. Robbie in the course of the afternoon.
"Now, Miss Flora," he had said, "come early, for I have a Phoenix to
show you--one Mr. Ducie, a new client of mine that, I vow, I have fallen
in love with"; and he was so good as to add a word or two on my
appearance, from which Flora conceived a suspicion of the truth. She had
come to the party, in consequence, on the knife-edge of anticipation and
alarm; had chosen a place by the door, where I found her, on my arrival,
surrounded by a posse of vapid youths; and, when I drew near, sprang up
to meet me in the most natural manner in the world, and, obviously, with
a prepared form of words.

"How do you do, Mr. Ducie?" she said. "It is quite an age since I have
seen you!"

"I have much to tell you, Miss Gilchrist," I replied. "May I sit down?"

For the artful girl, by sitting near the door, and the judicious use of
her shawl, had contrived to keep a chair empty by her side.

She made room for me as a matter of course, and the youths had the
discretion to melt before us. As soon as I was once seated her fan flew
out, and she whispered behind it--

"Are you mad?"

"Madly in love," I replied; "but in no other sense."

"I have no patience! You cannot understand what I am suffering!" she
said. "What are you to say to Ronald, to Major Chevenix, to my aunt?"

"Your aunt?" I cried, with a start. "_Peccavi_! is she here?"

"She is in the card-room at whist," said Flora.

"Where she will probably stay all the evening?" I suggested.

"She may," she admitted; "she generally does!"

"Well, then, I must avoid the card-room," said I, "which is very much
what I had counted upon doing. I did not come here to play cards, but to
contemplate a certain young lady to my heart's