be present at the dance.

Then the vision of Iris rose again before his eyes, and immediately
everything else faded from his world, and he hastened to Greengates,
arriving just as the clock struck eleven.

He saw her the moment he entered the room after greeting Sir Richard and
Lady Laura in the hall. She was dancing with Cheniston, and Anstice had
never seen her look more radiant.

She was wearing the very shimmering white frock in which he had pictured
her, a filmy chiffon thing which set off her youthful beauty to its
highest perfection; and the pearls which lay on her milky throat, the
satin slippers which cased her slender feet, the bunch of lilies-of-the
valley at her breast, were details in so charming a picture that others
besides Anstice found her distractingly pretty to-night.

And as he noted her happy look, the air of serene content with which she
yielded her slim form to her partner's guidance, the light in the grey
eyes which smiled into Cheniston's face, Anstice's heart gave one bitter
throb and then lay heavy as a stone in his breast.

He hardly doubted that she was won already; and in Cheniston's proud and
assured bearing he thought he read the story of that winning.

As he stood against the wall, unconscious of the curious glances
directed towards him, the music ceased, and the dancers came pouring out
of the ballroom to seek the fresher air without.

Passing him on her partner's arm, Iris suddenly withdrew her hand and
turned to greet the late comer.

"Dr. Anstice!" It seemed as though her inward happiness must needs find
an outlet, so radiant was the smile with which she greeted him. "You
have really come! I thought you had failed us after all."

"No--I was sent for, at the last moment." Something in his strained tone
seemed to startle the girl, for her eyes dilated, and with an effort
Anstice spoke more lightly. "I couldn't get away, Miss Wayne, but you
won't visit my misfortunes on my head, will you? You promised me some
dances----"

"One has had to go." She looked down at her card. "I kept the fifth for
you, but you may have the next if you like. I did not engage myself for
that, thinking"--she paused, then smiled at him frankly--"thinking you
might come after all."

Scarcely knowing what he did Anstice made some rejoinder; and then
Cheniston, who had turned away for a moment, appeared to observe Anstice
for the first time, and giving him a nod said rather curtly:

"Evening, Anstice;