“Mr. Stanley.”
“Who is Mr. Stanley? A rival lecturer?”
A rival lecturer! This was too provoking of Ada to forget the name of Charles’ friend, and Catharine looked up to see if the forgetfulness might not possibly be assumed. Alas! it was but too real, and she gave full vent to her indignation, as she recalled to Ada, who and what Mr. Stanley was.
“True, I had forgotten,” quietly rejoined the offender. “But surely, Kate, there is no occasion for so much warmth. How should I remember him, when I have never even seen him?”
“That is just the reason why I am provoked—I wanted to present him to you last evening.”
“Another time will do just as well.”
“But there is no time to be lost,” replied Catharine, vehemently.
“Why we have no preliminaries to settle about the wedding ceremony, have we?” asked Ada, ingenuously.
The question recalled Catharine to a sense of the blunder she had been about to commit, and she answered carelessly:
“Oh, no! but it would be pleasanter for both, had you met before the wedding. By the bye, Ada,” added she, to change the subject, “you should have seen how handsome Charles was last night.”