She looked pleased. "You are the first person I have met!--Did you have any idea who I was the other evening?" she asked suddenly.
Keith would have given five years of his life to be able to answer yes. But he said no. "I only knew you were some one who needed protection," he said, trying to make the best of a bad situation. You are too young to be on the street so late."
"So it appeared. I had been out for a walk to see old Dr. Templeton and to get a piece of music, and it was later than I thought."
"Whom are you here with?" inquired Keith, to get off of delicate ground. "Where are you staying?"
"With my cousin, Mrs. Norman Wentworth. It is my first introduction into New York life."
Just then there was a movement toward the supper-room.
Keith suggested that they should go and find Mrs. Norman. Miss Huntington said, however, she thought she had better remain where she was, as Mrs. Norman had promised to come back.
"I hope she will invite you to join our party," she said naïvely.
"If she does not, I will invite you both to join mine," declared Keith. "I have no idea of letting you escape for another dozen years."
Just then, however, Mrs. Norman appeared. She was with Ferdy Wickersham, who, on seeing Keith, looked away coldly. She smiled, greatly surprised to find Keith there. "Why, where did you two know each other?"