"Oh, no, no!" said Fanny, quickly. "I cannot go down. You must excuse me to him."
So Mrs. Miller returned to the parlor, and said Fanny was not feeling very well and wished to be excused.
Stanton and Raymond passed a very pleasant evening, and ere its close they had arranged with Mrs. Crane for rooms and board. On their way to the hotel, Raymond suddenly exclaimed, "I say, Bob, I'm head over heels in love!"
"In love with whom?" was Stanton's quiet reply.
"In love with whom?" repeated Raymond. "Why, Bob, is it possible your head is so full of Nellie Ashton that you do not know that we have been in company this evening with a perfect Hebe, an angel, a divine creature?"
"Please stop," said Stanton, "and not deal in so many superlatives. Which of the fair ladies made such havoc with your heart? Was it Mrs. Crane?"
"Mrs. Crane! Witch of Endor just as soon," answered Raymond. "Why, man alive, 'twas the beautiful Mrs. Carrington. I tell you what, Bob, my destiny is upon me and she is its star. I see in her my future wife."
"Why, Fred," said Mr. Stanton, "are you crazy? Mrs. Carrington is at least nearly thirty-five, and you are not yet twenty-five."
"I don't care for that," replied Raymond. "She may be thirty, and she may be a hundred, but she looks sixteen. Such glorious eyes I never saw. And she almost annihilated me with one of her captivating smiles. Her name, too, is my favorite."
"Her name? Pray, how did you learn her name?" asked Stanton.