While Morton was thus brought to the bar in the matronly breast of Mrs. Primrose, while the jury were bringing in a verdict of guilty, joined to a recommendation to mercy, the unconscious young man was leading his companion to the supper room; where, furnishing her with a huge plate of oysters, he left her in perfect contentment.
Not long after, he encountered Meredith.
"How do you like your friend in the diamonds?"
"She's a superb specimen; about as civilized, with all her jewelry, as a Pawnee squaw. She has a vein of womanhood, though. I saw her, in the tea room, fondle a kitten whose foot had been trodden upon, as tenderly as if it had been a child."
"If you had not been so busy with her, you would have met a person much better worth your time."
"Who's that?"
"Miss Fanny Euston."
"Do you mean that she is here?"
"She was here,—in that room adjoining. But she has gone; you'll see nothing of her to-night."
"Will not her being here induce you to stay?"