Miles Channing did not dance, but after watching for a time--while Georgiana was acutely conscious that his eyes constantly followed her--he claimed and bore her off before others could prevent. In a palm-shadowed corner well removed from observation he drew a long breath of content and settled down beside her.
"I hope you will not be too much bored at missing a round or two," he began in the slightly drawling speech which was somehow one of his charms, it was so curiously accompanied by his intent observation. "I haven"t danced for so long I can"t venture to attempt it, especially with you."
"I should be the most patient of partners, I"m so unaccomplished myself," declared Georgiana.
"Nevertheless I shouldn"t want to try you. You dance like a sylph, I like an elephant."
"I don"t believe it."
"You do grudge sitting out, then, do you?" he asked.
"Not a bit."
"It wouldn"t really matter if you did, for I intend to hold my advantage now I have it. I care more to talk with you than for all the dances on the program. And the time is so short I must make the most of it. You go back to-morrow, I understand?"
"Yes, indeed."
"And you"ll not be here soon again?"
"I don"t expect to. I"m a very busy person at home and can seldom be spared."
"That means that whoever wants to know you must come to your home?"
Georgiana felt her pulse beats quickening. This was certainly losing no time. She a.s.sented to the interrogation, explaining that her father was an invalid and she was his housekeeper. She felt no temptation to represent things to Mr. Channing as other than they were. It was somehow an atonement for appearing in her borrowed attire that she should not allow appearances to deceive this new acquaintance into thinking her home the counterpart of her cousin"s. The news did not appear in the least to disconcert him.
"I should like very much to meet your father," Channing said; and Georgiana liked him for taking the trouble to put it in that way. He instantly added: "And I should like still more to see you in your own home. May I have that pleasure?"
"We shall be very glad to see you," she promised, careful of her manner.
"No matter how soon I come?"
"I suppose you will allow me to reach home first?" she questioned gayly.
"Barely. This is Wednesday night. You go home to-morrow--Thursday. May I come Sat.u.r.day?"
"You have been living on railway schedules so long you have acquired the habit," she gave back with slightly heightened colour. In the course of her experience she had seen more than one young man change his plans after encountering her, but she had never known one to form new ones as quickly as this.
"I have discovered that when one wants to reach a place very much, he can"t start too soon," he said very low, with such obvious meaning that she had some difficulty in keeping her cool composure. It was not only his words, but his looks and manner which spoke. She had never dreamed that outside of stories men ever really did begin to fire on sight, like this.
The matter settled, Channing began to talk of other things, but through all his speech and acts ran the visible thread of his instant and powerful attraction to her, so that she was conscious of the colour of it. By the time two dances had gone by and she was sought and found by an eager claimant, the girl was quite ready to get away from this new and decidedly disturbing experience. And when, a little later, she allowed James Stuart to try one of the new steps with her, she had a comfortable sense of having got back upon known and solid ground, after having been swimming in a too-swift current.
CHAPTER XII
EARLY MORNING
"You"ve no idea, Jimpsy," Georgiana said, when she and James Stuart had a.s.sured themselves that they were able to suit their steps to each other and were moving smoothly down the floor, "how glad I am to be with some one I know, for a bit."
"Only some one? Not particularly me?"
"Yes, particularly you. My brain needs a little rest."
"There"s a compliment for an old friend! But I didn"t suppose dancing tired the brain. It"s my feet that have bothered me. I"ve walked all over Jeannette"s little toes, but she"s perfectly game and won"t admit it."
"I thought you and she were getting on beautifully together."
"So we were. I couldn"t see how you and Channing got on together, because you went off and hid somewhere. That"s not fair with a perfectly new acquaintance."
"Didn"t you and Jeannette go off and hide somewhere?"
"We"re not new acquaintances."
"Oh, indeed! How old ones are you?"
"A month is a long time compared with one short evening. I never knew, George, you were such a terrific charmer. You"ve had them all nailed to-night; and as for Channing--well---- Only I suppose he"s a shark at the game himself. He shows it. Better look out."
"What an excellent opportunity a dance is for old friends to give each other good advice." Georgiana smiled up into his eyes.
He closed his own for an instant. "Don"t do that; it dazzles me."
"Nonsense. You"re learning the game yourself. Jeannette"s been teaching you. We"re all finding each other out to-night. I had no idea she could sparkle so."
"You"re the sparkler. She simply glows with a steady light."
"Well, I like that!"
"You like everything to-night. You remind me of a peach--on fire."
"Jimps!" Georgiana"s soft laughter a.s.sailed his ear. "I believe we"re both a bit crazy with this sudden leap into dissipation--such dissipation! Just remember where we"ll be to-morrow night."
"I don"t want to--except that I"ll be with you. We"ll talk it all over by your fire, eh?"
"Of course. There"ll be that much left, anyhow. Is this over? Thank you, Jimps, for the best dance I"ve had to-night."
"No use trying it on me," he murmured as he released her. "What"s the use of capturing what you"ve already got?"
By and by it was all over and Georgiana was mounting the stairs with Jeannette, smiling back at certain faces in the disordered s.p.a.ces below, where flowers lay about the floors and a group of young fellows, belonging to Rosalie"s house party, were making merry before they broke ranks.
In Jeannette"s room by a blazing fire the girls held brief session, sitting with unbound hair and swinging slippered feet, and cheeks still flushed with the night"s gayety.
"Jimps and I were imagining ourselves sitting by the fire in our old living-room to-morrow night," said Georgiana softly, staring into the flame with eyes which reflected little points of light. "It will seem like a dream then, but we shall talk it all over, and remember what fun we had, and how lovely everybody was to us--and how beautiful you were in that blue-and-silver frock."
"You dear thing, you ought to have such times often and often!" cried Jeannette. "But--O Georgiana, you have times I envy you! While you are dreaming of our flowers and music I shall be dreaming of the dear old house, and the jolly evenings you gave me there, and envying you--oh, envying you----"
"Envying me! Are you crazy, child, or are you just----"