ul," Miss Restall
wrote; "I have tried to get you a card for our garden party. But that
hateful creature, Margery, has evidently spoken to my father; I am not
trusted with any invitation cards. Bear it patiently, dear, as I do, and
let me hear if you have succeeded in finding a lodging near us."

Not submitting to this first disappointment very patiently, Cosway sent
his reply to the post-office, addressed to A. R.--the initials of Adela
Restall. The next day the impatient lover applied for another letter. It
was waiting for him, but it was not directed in Adela's handwriting.
Had their correspondence been discovered? He opened the letter in the
street; and read, with amazement, these lines:

"Dear Mr. Cosway, my heart sympathizes with two faithful lovers, in
spite of my age and my duty. I inclose an invitation to the party
tomorrow. Pray don't betray me, and don't pay too marked attention to
Adela. Discretion is easy. There will be twelve hundred guests. Your
friend, in spite of appearances, Louisa Margery."

How infamously they had all misjudged this excellent woman! Cosway went
to the party a grateful, as well as a happy man. The first persons
known to him, whom he discovered among the crowd of strangers, were
the Athertons. They looked, as well they might, astonished to see him.
Fidelity to Mrs. Margery forbade him to enter into any explanations.
Where was that best and truest friend? With some difficulty he succeeded
in finding her. Was there any impropriety in seizing her hand and
cordially pressing it? The result of this expression of gratitude was,
to say the least of it, perplexing.

Mrs. Margery behaved like the Athertons! She looked astonished to see
him and she put precisely the same question: "How did you get here?"
Cosway could only conclude that she was joking. "Who should know that,
dear lady, better than yourself?" he rejoined. "I don't understand you,"
Mrs. Margery answered, sharply. After a moment's reflection, Cosway hit
on another solution of the mystery. Visitors were near them; and Mrs.
Margery had made her own private use of one of Mr. Restall's invitation
cards. She might have serious reasons for pushing caution to its last
extreme. Cosway looked at her significantly. "The least I can do is not
to be indiscreet," he whispered--and left her.

He turned into a side walk; and there he met Adela at last!

It seemed like a fatality. _She_ looked astonished; and _she_ said: "How
did you get here