Gerald obeyed her. He asked Miss Forester to dance. Miss Forester was engaged. Very contented, Gerald strolled away to Lucy, and the next moment the lovers were again in sentimental labyrinths. Margaret understood the task of soothing and amusing Mr. Weston, and she succeeded for a time. Then she devoted herself, for a certain purpose, to Miss Forester; she wished to discover the state of that young lady's affections. But she met her match; after a quarter of an hour's confidential small-talk conversation, Margaret was no wiser then before. At ten o' clock Mr. Hart came, and for a little while Mr. Weston lost sight of his disturbance. But he planted a thorn in the breast of his friend. He introduced him to Miss Forester, and said privately to Mr. Hart, a few minutes afterwards:
"That is the young lady Gerald will marry."
Every trace of colour left Mr. Hart's face. He turned to see how Lucy and Gerald were engaged. They were not together. Gerald was now dancing with Miss Forester; their faces were very bright and animated; indeed, to tell you a secret known only at this time to those two, they had come to a little private understanding, arrived at without direct words, I assure you, which had given satisfaction to both. If words had been spoken, they would have run something in this way:
Miss Forester. "I love another person, and notwithstanding my mamma's wishes, I shall not marry you."
Gerald. "I love another person, and, notwithstanding my father's wishes, I shall not make love to you."
Not one word of this dialogue was spoken, but nothing could have been more plainly expressed. Thereupon Gerald and Miss Forester immediately became greater friends than they had ever been, and were absolutely--in the judgment of outsiders--flirting together most conspicuously. In Mr. Hart's eyes it was not flirtation, it was love-making. But Lucy's face was bright also; there was not a cloud on it. He turned to Margaret; their eyes met, but he could not read the expression in her face. Truth to tell, she was anxious and nervous, and was beginning to lose confidence in herself.
All this while we have left Mr. Weston, with the words hanging on his lips:
"That is the young lady Gerald will marry."
"Is it settled, then?" inquired Mr. Hart, striving, and striving in vain, to master his agitation.
"Quite settled," replied Mr. Weston, without a twinge.