ittle hands, the unconscious,
languorous use of her beautiful fan, and women marked how alert, too,
were the wonderful dark eyes--how, even as they meltingly and feelingly
were uplifted to greet each newcomer, they saw each comer before that
comer stood in her presence. She was at her best when Mrs. Ray, pausing
first to greet Mrs. Stone and the colonel, was passed on to the star of
the evening, and the smiling adjutant, with unpremeditated preference in
his tone, announced "Mrs. Ray, Mrs. Dwight; your predecessor at the head
of our squadron." And then for the first time that night the bride
stepped forward, if only a single pace, and, as though her heart went
with it, her hand seemed to leap forward in impulsive greeting.

"I have known Mrs. Ray ever since I first met Major Dwight," said she,
with such wealth of gladness in her tone. She never seemed to see the
young officer standing with pale, unsmiling face, awaiting his turn to
be advanced to the presence. "I cannot begin to say how glad I am to
meet her--at last," she continued. And Marion Ray, thoroughbred woman of
society, if not of the world, stood in quiet, smiling grace and dignity,
listening--without a sign of rancor to the swift patter of words from
the beautiful lips of the girl who had played havoc with her firstborn's
honest young heart, studying the beauty of the newcomer's wondrous face,
and wondering, as mothers will, that even a lover could see therein a
resemblance to her own daughter--her dark-eyed Maidie. She hoped that by
this time Sandy, too, would see that he had been blind. She responded
without embarrassment or effort. Not for a royal ransom would she let
this fascinator see that her son had ever so far taken her seriously
enough to speak, even to his mother, of a possible admiration.

"The major was very long our near neighbor," she said. "And it is good
to have him with us again--and to welcome Mrs. Dwight." Then her hand
was extended to Major Dwight as, still smiling and chatting, she seemed
imperceptibly sidling toward him; and then Sandy emerged into the field
of vision. "So glad to see Mrs. Dwight again," said he, in off-hand
assumption of jovial indifference. "Gibson's here, you know. He'll be
trotting past the grandstand presently." And though the little hand,
slipped into his, gave faint, fluttering, tentative pressure, he edged
along, yielding place to 'Cilla and Will, the next comers, and
precipitated himself on Dwight. There was un