"You are a superb dancer; now you certainly can have no scruples about claiming some waltzes," Kate replied, withdrawing her arm and again placing her programme in his hands.
As they paused at the head of the stairs while Darrell complied with her request, a chorus of voices was heard in the hall below.
"Kate, are you never coming?" some one called, and a sprightly brunette appeared for an instant on the first landing, but vanished quickly at sight of Darrell.
"Girls!" they heard her exclaim to the merry group below; "would you believe it? She is taking a base advantage of us; she has discovered what we did not suppose existed in this house—a young man—and is getting her programme filled in advance!"
Cries of "Oh, Kate, that's not fair!" followed. Kate leaned laughingly over the balustrade.
"He's an angel of a dancer, girls," she called, "but I'll promise not to monopolize him!"
Darrell returned the programme, saying, as they passed down the stairs together,—
"I didn't want to appear selfish, so I only selected three, but give me more if you can, later."
Kate smiled. "I think," she replied, "you will speedily find yourself in such demand that I will consider myself fortunate to have secured those three; but," she added shyly, as her eyes met his, "my first waltz was with you, and that was just as I intended it should be!"
Through the hours which followed so swiftly Dar