"I am," Nora replied, "and it is scarcely necessary to ask if Miss Farrell is."
"Indeed, I don't see any reason for taking it for granted," said Kitty, coquettishly; "but if you really want to know, I believe we're all going. It will be quite large for a dinner-party; so, Nora, mind you are to look your best!"
Just as they got out of the brougham, and stood full in the light of the lamp at the entrance, a young man, passing hurriedly, looked up and took a rapid survey of the trio. Nora caught the glance, and recognized the young man who had walked with her through the lamp-lighted streets a few evenings before. She was sorry that she had not had time to show that she recognized him, for he had interested her almost as much as the new trains of thought he had started.
The practice went on very much as all practices do. The choruses had to be gone over again and again, till the time and harmony were, in the conductor's estimation at least, approximately correct. Nora could not help wishing that some other words could have been used for the practice, than those carrying such sacred meanings and associations. She began to see why her Aunt Margaret did not care for oratorios, when she noticed some of the girls tittering over mistakes in the rendering of some of the most solemn and touching passages. Mr. Chillingworth watched it all carefully from the artistic point of view—which, for the time at least, he seemed to have disassociated from the religious. At last it was over, for that evening, and Kitty and Nora were resuming their wraps, while Mr. Chillingworth was holding an animated talk with the conductor and the accompanist, Herr Waldberg, on points connected with the rendering of some of the passages. Waldberg, his handsome face lighted up with the glow and sparkle of musical enthusiasm, came up with Mr. Chillingworth, and, courteously bowing to the young ladies, exchanged a few words with Kitty in an undertone. She lingered a moment, as Nora waited for her at the entrance.
"I needn't take you and Mr. Chillingworth out of your way to walk round with me," she said. "You know I didn't order the carriage to come back, as I didn't know just when it would be over, and father does not like to have the horses standing at night. But Mr. Waldberg has kindly offered to see me home, so you won't have to come all that way round, and it's snowing quite fast, isn't it?"
Nora felt vaguely dissatisfied, she hardly knew why, at the proposed arrangement. But of course she could offer no objection, and Mr. Chillingworth was by no means sorry to be permitted to walk home with Miss Blanchard, tête-à-tête. They were both enthusiasts in music, and could talk about it, the oratorio and its rendering, with more freedom from distraction than when Kitty, with her butterfly nature was at hand, ready at any moment to strike off on some other tack. And again, as they walked on, Nora observed that her unknown friend passed them at a rapid pace, but this time he was going the same way, and she did not know whether he observed her or not.
CHAPTER XI.
THORNS AND ROSES.
"What are you going to wear to-night, Nora?" asked Mrs. Blanchard, as the two still lingered in company over the breakfast-table, which the busy doctor had, as usual, quitted before them. This was always the most important question in Mrs. Blanchard's mind, when they were going to any entertainment.