"Ola! what now?" exclaimed Harriet.
"May we come in?" asked Mr. Singleton, putting his head in at the door.
"What is the meaning of We?" asked Harriet.
"Humphries and your humble servant," replied Mr. Singleton, almost shutting his head off in the door as he spoke.
"Well, I don't know! eh, Margaret?--Yes," returned Harriet, glancing round her boudoir. The maid had removed the ball dresses, and the room was very fit for a reception.
Mr. Humphries followed Mr. Singleton with a step much as if he were treading on eggs, and was very sorry for it.
Harriet held out her hand. "How glad I am to see you again, Mr.
Humphries. I hope you are come to engage me to dance with you on Thursday."
Mr. Humphries smiled amazingly at this reception.
"Yes. I--I'm glad," he said, by way of reply.
"Well, but about the dancing," said Harriet eagerly.
"Oh! Will you dance the second quadrille with me, Miss Conway?"
"With pleasure, on one condition. That you will tell me who you have engaged for the first?"
A wide smile, but no answer.
"Well, Mr. Humphries, you are not going to be so rude as to refuse my request. I know I am to keep it secret. Come, tell me."
"I can't," returned Mr. Humphries, going through several convulsive movements.
"Is he not ill-natured, uncle Singleton?" asked Harriet, "I am sure I would tell Mr. Humphries, if I knew who was to be my first partner."
"But you will dance with me all the same?" asked Mr. Humphries.
"Well, I will then," said Harriet laughing; "but I am very angry with you."
Margaret had laid down the guitar and was standing in the Tudor window, pulling the dry leaves from the geraniums. Mr. Humphries joined her.
"Gage is down stairs with Mrs. Singleton," he said.
"So I thought," returned Margaret.
"They are playing at chess together."
"Are they, indeed!"
"Do you like chess, Miss Capel?"
"Not very much, Mr. Humphries."
"No more do I."
"Ha! ha! there's sympathy," cried Harriet, leaning back in her chair to gain a full view of them among the geraniums.
Mr. Singleton laughed heartily, and told Harriet not to spoil sport.
Mr. Humphries coloured, and tried to get more effectually behind the flower stands.
"Miss Conway is always laughing at one," he said.
Margaret could not deny it.
"But what I was going to say," remarked Mr. Humphries, coming close to Margaret and whispering. "Will you dance the first quadrille with me?"
"With pleasure," said Margaret, smiling.
"Thank you--you see I could not tell Miss Conway just now, because I did not know myself, till I had asked you."
"No, you could not, indeed."
"Well, I'm going now," he exclaimed, suddenly taking her hand. "God bless you!"
"Did you sneeze, Margaret?" asked Harriet, turning quickly round.
Mr. Humphries was walking fast to the door.
Margaret supposed the explanation was meant as a farewell, for he stopped at the door, said "good night!" accompanied by an extraordinary nod of the head, and vanished.
"That is one of the best fellows that ever lived," said Mr. Singleton, nodding at the door through which Mr. Humphries had departed.
"What do you say to that assertion, Margaret?" asked Harriet, looking mischievously at her.
"I will take Mr. Singleton's word for it," replied Margaret, with her usual calmness.
"But he is not the best dancer that ever lived, Uncle Singleton," said Harriet, laughing, "as Margaret will find to her cost. Come, he has set you a very good example. Vanish! and good night to you. And, uncle," she added, calling him back, "had you not better, in the course of the evening, take an opportunity to ask Mr. Humphries his intentions?"
Mr. Singleton was well used to Harriet's jests; he laughed, shook his head, and left the room.
CHAPTER V.
But nature never framed a woman's heart Of prouder stuff than that of Beatrice; Disdain and scorn ride sparkling in her eyes, Misprising what they look on; and her wit Values itself so highly, that to her All matter else seems weak.
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.
"Well, ma mie, and what is it?" asked Harriet, as Margaret came hastily into her room while she was dressing for the ball. "Anything gone wrong with the blush roses."