ed a position in which he could do so without
observation) at this impersonation of the woman's part. He thought if
another fellow should look in for a talk, which was his irreverent way
of describing to himself the visit of the angel, it would be highly
agreeable to have her there listening, and to clear up the knotty points
for her when they should be alone. He had little doubt that Eve would
have an opinion of her own, very favourable to _his_ way of stating the
subject, and would not mind criticising the other fellow, with a keen
eye for any little point of possible ridicule. He kept thinking this as
he talked to Mrs. Warrender, and also that the little cluster of curls
was pretty, and the bend of her head, and, indeed, everything about her;
not striking, perhaps, or out of the common, but most soothing and
sweet.

And next evening, having had those pleasures of anticipation which Mrs.
Warrender thought so much of, he went with them to the play, and spent
an exceedingly pleasant evening, pointing out such people as he knew
(who were anybody) to Mrs. Warrender between the acts, and enjoying
the sight of Chatty's absorption in the play, which made it twice as
interesting to himself. The play was one in which there was a great deal
of pretty love-making along with melodramatic situations of an exciting
kind. The actors, except one, were not of sufficient reputation to
interest any reader save those with a special inclination to the study
of the stage. But though the performance was not on the very highest
level, there was a great deal in it that thrilled this young man and
woman sitting next to each other, and already vaguely inclined towards
each other in that first chapter of mutual attraction which is, perhaps,
in its vagueness and irresponsibility, the most delightful of all. Dick
would have laughed at the idea of feeling himself somehow mixed up
with the lover on the stage, who was not only a good actor, but a much
handsomer fellow than he was; but Chatty had no such feeling, and with a
blush and quiver felt herself wooed in that romantic wooing, with a half
sense that the lights should be lowered and nobody should see, and at
the same time an enchantment in the sight which only that sense of a
personal share in it could have given.

After this beginning Dick's reflections went to the wind.

He felt injured when he found that, not knowing their other friends in
town, he had no invitation to accompany them, when