Her thought remained unuttered. Roy was patently not attending. Miss Arden and the 'R.E. boy' had just entered the Hall.
"Don't let me keep you," she added sweetly. "It's evident she's the next!"
Roy collected himself with a jerk. "You're wiser than I am! I've not asked her yet."
"Then you can save yourself the trouble and go on dancing with me! She's always booked up ahead——"
Her blue eyes challenged him laughingly; but he caught the undernote of rivalry. For half a second the scales hung even between courtesy and inclination; then, from the tail of his eye, he saw Hayes bearing down upon the other pair. That decided him. He had conceived an unreasoning dislike of Talbot Hayes.
"I'm awfully sorry," he said politely. "But—I sent word I was coming in for the dancing; and——"
"Oh, go along then and get your fingers burnt, as you deserve. But never say I didn't try and save them!"
Roy laughed. "They aren't in any danger, thanks very much!"
Just as he reached Miss Arden, the R.E. boy left her, and Lance, forsaking his pillar, strolled casually to her side.
She greeted Roy with a faint lift of her brows.