"I say, darling, who is the new man you've been dancing with such a lot
tonight? You had supper with him, too. I've never seen him before. He's
awfully good-looking."
"Oh, that is--I suppose you mean Major Dermot," replied the girl, feeling
suddenly shy.
"Major Dermot? Who's he? What is--Oh, is it the wonderful hero from the
Terai, the man you told me so much about when you came up?"
"Yes; he is the same."
"Really? How interesting! He's so distinguished-looking. When did he come
up? Why didn't you tell me he was coming?"
"I didn't know it myself."
"I should love to meet him. Introduce him to me. Now, at once."
With a hurried apology to her own partner and Noreen's she dragged the girl
off in search of the fresh man who had taken her fancy, and did not give up
the chase until, with Melville's aid, Dermot was run to earth in the
cardroom and introduced to her. Ida did not wait for him to ask her to
dance but calmly ran her pencil through three names on the programme and
bestowed the vacancies thus created on him in such a way that he could not
refuse them. Dermot, however, did not grumble. She was Noreen's friend; if
not the rose, she was near the rose.
Ida was not the only one who noticed how frequently the girl had danced
with him. Charlesworth, disappointed at finding vacancies on her programme,
for which he had hoped, already filled, commented on it and asked who the
stranger was in a supercilious tone that made her furious and gained for
him a well-merited snubbing.
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