“I’m so icy that sensation is no longer one of my five senses,” returned she, quickly.
“Perhaps you will thaw out after a dance with me,” suggested Sandy, giving her a look that pleased her mightily—a look of admiration.
“I never thought dancing was part of a Ranger’s duty,” remarked she, casually.
“Oh, but it is! When we are supposed to entertain friends—such as we now are.”
“Who said so? I should say we were mere acquaintances, here to-day, gone to-morrow.”
“Not so, Miss Julie! If you knew me better you’d know that I do not believe in to-morrows. I claim the nows of to-days.”
“Now what can you really claim?” demanded Julie, giving him a quick glance.
The Ranger caught it and smiled. The other members in the group had joined Mr. Gilroy and Mr. Vernon, who were waiting at the door of the room, and now were pairing off for the dance. As Julie and her escort entered the room, the Ranger answered her last question very decidedly.
“You want to know what I claim now?—this”—and he swung her away into the whirl of dancers without as much as asking her would she be pleased.
To Julie’s amazement this partner could dance divinely. She was considered the most graceful dancer in Elmertown, and many times she had contributed for charity’s sake, at bazaars, at pageants, etcetera, the classical Greek and Oriental dances she could do so well. Therefore she considered herself a good judge of partners.