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!