er there--"

Selwyn had already caught sight of the table destined for him. A deeper
colour crept across his bronzed face as he stepped forward, and his firm
hand closed over the slim hand offered.

For a moment neither spoke; she could not; he dared not.

Then Drina caught his hands, and Eileen's loosened in his clasp and fell
away as the child said distinctly, "I'll kiss you after dinner; it can't
be done here, can it, Eileen?"

"You little monkey!" exclaimed her father, astonished; "what in the name
of cruelty to kids are _you_ doing here?"

"Mother let me," observed the child, reaching for a bonbon. "Daisy is
here; you didn't speak to her."

"I'm past conversation," said Austin grimly, "and Daisy appears to be
also. Are they to send an ambulance for you, Miss Craig?--or will you
occupy the emergency ward upstairs?"

"Upstairs," said Miss Craig briefly. It was all she could utter.
Besides, she was occupied with a pink cream-puff. Austin and Boots
watched her with a dreadful fascination; but she seemed competent to
manage it.

Selwyn, beside Eileen, had ventured on the formalities--his voice
unsteady and not yet his own.

Her loveliness had been a memory; he had supposed he realised it to
himself; but the superb, fresh beauty of the girl dazed him. There was a
strange new radiancy, a living brightness to her that seemed almost
unreal. Exquisitely unreal her voice, too, and the slightly bent head,
crowned with the splendour of her hair; and the slowly raised eyes, two
deep blue miracles tinged with the hues of paradise.

"There's no use," sighed Drina, "I shall not be able to dance. Boots,
there's to be a dance, you know; so I'll sit on the stairs with Daisy
Craig; and you'll come to me occasionally, won't you?"

Miss Craig yawned frightfully and made a purely mechanical move toward
an iced strawberry. Before she got it Nina gave the rising signal.

"Are you remaining to smoke?" asked Eileen as Selwyn took her to the
doorway. "Because, if you are not--I'll wait for you."

"Where?" he asked.

"Anywhere. . . . Where shall I?"

Again the twin blue miracles were lifted to his; and deep in them he saw
her young soul, waiting.

Around them was the gay confusion, adieux, and laughter of partners
parted for the moment; Nina passed them with a smiling nod; Boots
conducted Drina to a resting-place on the stairs; outside, the hall was
thronged with the younger set, and already their partners were returning
to