ice was now broken, and, when Henry returned, he found them
conversing so rapidly and so charmingly, that he could do little more
than listen.

At last Mr. Carden came in from some other party, and carried his
daughter off, and the bright evening came too soon to a close; but
a great point had been gained: Mrs. Little and Grace Carden were
acquaintances now, and cordially disposed to be friends.

The next time these lovers met, matters did not go quite so smoothly. It
was a large party, and Mr. Coventry was there. The lady of the house was
a friend of his, and assigned Miss Carden to him. He took her down to
dinner, and Henry sat a long way off but on the opposite side of the
table.

He was once more doomed to look on at the assiduities of his rival, and
it spoiled his dinner for him.

But he was beginning to learn that these things must be in society; and
his mother, on the other side of the table, shrugged her shoulders to
him, and conveyed by that and a look that it was a thing to make light
of.

In the evening the rivals came into contact.

Little, being now near her he loved, was in high spirits, and talked
freely and agreeably. He made quite a little circle round him; and as
Grace was one of the party, and cast bright and approving eyes on him,
it stimulated him still more, and he became quite brilliant.

Then Coventry, who was smarting with jealousy, set himself to cool all
this down by a subtle cold sort of jocoseness, which, without being
downright rude, operates on conversation of the higher kind like frost
on expanding buds. It had its effect, and Grace chafed secretly, but
could not interfere. It was done very cleverly. Henry was bitterly
annoyed; but his mother, who saw his rising ire in his eye, carried him
off to see a flowering cactus in a hot-house that was accessible from
the drawing-room. When she had got him there, she soothed him and
lectured him. "You are not a match for that man in these petty acts
of annoyance, to which a true gentleman and a noble rival would hardly
descend, I think; at all events, a wise one would not; for, believe me,
Mr. Coventry will gain nothing by this."

"Isn't driving us off the field something? Oh, for the good old days
when men settled these things in five minutes, like men; the girl to
one, and the grave to t'other."

"Heaven forbid those savage days should ever return. We will defeat this
gentleman quietly, if you please."

"How?"

"Well, whenever he