I shall see
you soon again. Good night!"
He moved hastily, passed through the door of the small apartment which,
opened on the staircase, and was gone. Lydia Graham remained alone for
a few moments, in a triumphant reverie, then she joined Gordon Graham
and the bewitching widow, who had been making the most of the
opportunity for indulging in her favourite florid style of flirtation.
"I have won," Lydia said to herself; "and how easily! Poor fellow; his
agitation was really painful. He did not even stop to shake hands with
me."
Mrs. Marmaduke took leave of her dearest Lydia, and her dearest Lydia's
brother, soon after Douglas Dale had departed, and Miss Graham and her
brother were left _tete-a-tete_.
"Well," said Gordon Graham, with rather a sulky air, "you don't seem to
have done much execution by your dinner-party, my young lady. Dale went
off in a great hurry, which does not say much for your powers of
fascination."
Lydia gave her head a triumphant little toss as she looked at her
brother.
"You are remarkably clever, my dear Gordon," she said; "but you are apt
to make mistakes occasionally, in spite of your cleverness. What should
you say if I were to tell you that Mr. Dale has this evening almost
made me an offer of his hand?"
"You don't mean to say so?"
"I do mean to say so," answered Lydia, triumphantly. "He is one of that
eccentric kind of people who have their own manner of doing things, and
do not care to tread the beaten track; or it may be that it is only his
reserved nature which renders him strange and awkward in his manner of
avowing himself.
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