Women in talking of him in connection with her said it was a pity; men said he was lucky.
One evening, at a reception at her house, he was in the gentlemen"s dressing-room. It was evidently a lady"s apartment which had been devoted for the occasion as a dressing-room. It was quite full at the time. A man, a large fellow with sleek, short hair, a fat chin, and a dazzling waistcoat, pulled open a lower drawer in a bureau. Articles of a lady"s apparel were discovered, spotless and neatly arranged. "Shut that drawer instantly," said Floyd, in a low, imperious tone.
"Suppose I don"t, what then?"
"I will pitch you out of that window," said Floyd, quietly, moving a step nearer to him. The drawer was closed, and the man turned away.
"Do you know who that was?" asked someone of Floyd.
"No, not the slightest idea."
"That was young Router, the son of the great Router."
"Who is the-great-Router?"
"The great pork man. His son is the one who is so attentive to Miss Dangerlie."
"I am glad he closed the drawer," said Floyd, quietly.
"He is said to be engaged to her," said the gentleman.
"He is not engaged to her," said Floyd.
Later on he was talking to Miss Dangerlie. He had taken her out of the throng. "Do you know who introduced me to you?" he asked.
"Yes, Mrs. Drivington."
"No, a little girl."
"Who? Why, don"t you remember! I am surprised. It was just in the doorway!"
"Oh! yes, I remember well enough. I met a beauty there, but I did not care for her. I met you first on the stairway, and a child introduced me."
"Children interest me, they always admire one," she said.
"They interest me, I always admire them," he said. "They are true."
She was silent, then changed the subject.
"A singular little incident befell me this evening," she said. "As I was coming home from a luncheon-party, a wretched woman stopped me and asked me to let her look at me."
"You did it, of course," he said.
She looked at him with her eyes wide open with surprise.
"What do you suppose a man said to me upstairs?" he asked her.
"What?"
"That you were engaged to someone."
"What! That I was engaged! To whom, pray?" She looked incredulous.
"To a fellow I saw up there--Mr. "Router", I think he said was his name."
"The idea! Engaged to Mr. Router! You did not believe him, did you?"
"No, of course I did not; I trust you entirely."
She buried her face in the roses she held in her hand, and did not speak. Her other hand rested on the arm of her chair next him. It was fine and white. He laid his on it firmly, and leaning towards her, said, "I beg your pardon for mentioning it. I am not surprised that you are hurt. Forgive me. I could not care for you so much if I did not believe in you."
"It was so kind in you to send me these roses," she said. "Aren"t they beautiful?"
She turned them round and gazed at them with her face slightly averted.
"Yes, they are, and yet I hate to see them tied that way; I ordered them sent to you loose. I always like to think of you as arranging roses."
"Yes, I love to arrange them myself," she said.
"The fact is, as beautiful as those are, I believe I like better the old-fashioned roses right out of the dew. I suppose it is old a.s.sociation. But I know an old garden up at an old country-place, where my mother used to live as a girl. It used to be filled up with roses, and I always think of the roses there as sweeter than any others in the world."
"Yes, I like the old-fashioned roses best too," she said, with that similarity of taste which always pleased him.
"The next time I come to see you I am going to bring you some of those roses," he said. "My mother used to tell me of my father going out and getting them for her, and I would like you to have some of them."
"Oh! thank you. How far is it from your home?"
"Fifteen or twenty miles."
"But you cannot get them there."
"Oh! yes, I can; the fact is, I own the place." She looked interested.
"Oh! it is not worth anything as land," he said, "but I love the a.s.sociation. My mother was brought up there, and I keep up the garden just as it was. You shall have the roses. Some day I want to see you among them." Just then there was a step behind him. She rose.
"Is it ours?" she asked someone over her shoulder.
"Yes, come along."
Floyd glanced around. It was the "son of the great Router".
She turned to Floyd, and said, in an earnest undertone, "I am very sorry; but I had an engagement. Good-by." She held out her hand. Floyd took it and pressed it.
"Good-by," he said, tenderly. "That is all right."
She took the-son-of-the-great-Router"s arm.