“I shall be delighted, for one, papa,” said Julia. “You will like to go, Herbert, won't you?”
“Very much,” said our hero.
“Then you can escort me, while papa and mamma walk together.”
Herbert felt that this arrangement would be very agreeable, so far as he was concerned. It was, in fact, adopted, and the four paired off together, as Julia had suggested, Julia amusing Herbert by her lively remarks.
Entering the hall, they followed the usher to their seats, which were eligibly located only a few rows back from the stage.
Just behind them sat a party, among whom the new arrivals produced quite a sensation. Not to keep the reader in suspense, that party consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Stanton, Tom and Maria. There was but slight acquaintance between the two families, as Mr. Godfrey's stood higher, socially, than Mr. Stanton's. The gentlemen, however, had a bowing acquaintance, and the young people had met at dancing school.
“Why, there's Mr. Godfrey and his family, Tom,” said Maria, turning towards her brother. “Who's that boy with them? Julia hasn't got any brother, has she?”
Tom had watched the entrance of the party with lively dissatisfaction. That his beggarly cousin should appear in public on such intimate terms with Julia Godfrey, to whom he himself had paid attention, but without any special encouragement, struck him as particularly mortifying.
“Mr. Godfrey's son!” he said, disdainfully. “That boy is Herbert Mason.”
“Our cousin?” asked Maria, with interest. “Ma, did you hear?” she whispered, eagerly. “That boy in front of us is Cousin Herbert.”