"I should like to see this lady who chaperoned you here. How do I know that she is a proper person!" he began, insolently, but at that moment a lady tapped him smartly on the arm with her fan, exclaiming:
"Ha, ha, ha! I like that, Mr. Standish! A proper person indeed. Well, I'm the person, and if you have any fault to find with me, my husband, Captain Stansbury, will settle it with you."
"Miss Odell!" he exclaimed, recoiling in surprise from the sight of the face of an old acquaintance.
"Mrs. Stansbury, please," she corrected him, then went on, gayly: "Do you remember our flirtation at Asbury Park three years ago? I haven't seen you since, have I? Well, I've been married two years now to the finest man in New York. But my sisters are single yet. Come with me and pay your respects to them before the german begins."
She dragged him reluctantly away, and then Hawthorne said, angrily:
"That fellow was inclined to be insolent, and I could scarcely refrain from pitching him neck and heels through this window!"
"Oh, please, please, do not get into any trouble with him on my account!" pleaded Geraldine. "He has been very kind to me, really, and I should not wish to offend him!"
"Do not tell me he is your lover—that you care for him!" exclaimed the young man, jealously.
"N-n-o, he is only a friend!" she faltered, and was glad when her partner for the next dance came to claim her hand.
She knew in her heart that Clifford Standish regarded her with more than a friendly liking, but she was not prepared to own it to impetuous Harry Hawthorne, so she was glad to get away from his inquisitive looks and words.