As he looked about for the
hostess it occurred to him that she would know, and that if he were able
to quench a certain shyness sufficiently to ask her, she would tell him.
Having satisfied himself presently that she was not in the supper-room,
he made his way back to the parlours, where the company now was much
diminished. He looked again into the music-room, tenanted only by
half-a-dozen couples, who were cultivating privacy among the empty
chairs, and here he perceived Mrs. Burrage sitting in conversation with
Olive Chancellor (the latter, apparently, had not moved from her place),
before the deserted scene of Verena's triumph. His search had been so
little for Olive that at the sight of her he faltered a moment; then he
pulled himself together, advancing with a consciousness of the
Mississippi manner. He felt Olive's eyes receiving him; she looked at
him as if it was just the hope that she shouldn't meet him again that
had made her remain where she was. Mrs. Burrage got up, as he bade her
good-night, and Olive followed her example.
"So glad you were able to come. Wonderful creature, isn't she? She can
do anything she wants."
These words from the elder lady Ransom received at first with a reserve
which, as he trusted, suggested extreme respect; and it was a fact that
his silence had a kind of Southern solemnity in it. Then he said, in a
tone equally expressive of great deliberation:
"Yes, madam, I think I never was present at an exhibition, an
entertainment of any kind, which held me more completely under the
charm.
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