Auld Lang
Syne, Sybil had turned her fine eyes upon him with an expression which
made him color, for he knew she was referring to the time when her name
and his were always coupled together.

Wilford would not have exchanged Katy for a dozen Sybils, but there was
about the latter a flash and sparkle very fascinating to most men, and
Wilford felt himself so much exhilarated in her society that he half
regretted leaving it, wishing as he did so that in some things Katy was
more like the brilliant woman of the world, who, flashing upon him her
most bewitching smile, leaned back in her handsome carriage with a
careless, easy abandon, while he ran up the steps of his own dwelling,
where Katy waited for him. In this state of mind her achievement at the
dinner table was exceedingly gratifying. Sybil herself could not have
done better. But alas, there were many points where Katy fell far below
this standard; so after speaking of Sybil's inquiries for his wife, he
went on to talk of Sybil herself, telling how much she was admired and
how superior she was to the majority of ladies whom Katy had met, adding
that he felt more anxious that Katy should make a favorable impression
upon her than any one of his acquaintance, as she would be sure to note
the slightest departure from her code of etiquette. How Katy hated the
words etiquette, and style and manner, wishing they might be stricken
from the language, and how she dreaded this Sybil Grandon, who seemed to
her like some ogress, instead of the charming creature she was described
to be. Thoughts of the secret picture and the dread fancy did not
trouble her now, for she was sure of Wilford's love; but she had
sometimes dreaded the return of Sybil Grandon, and now that she had
come, she felt for a moment a chill at her heart and a terror at meeting
her which she tried to shake off, succeeding at last, for perfect faith
in Wilford was to her a strong shield of defense, and her only trouble
was a fear lest she should fall in the scale of comparison which might
be instituted between herself and Mrs. Grandon.

Nestling close to Wilford, she said, half earnestly, half playfully:

"I will try not to disgrace you when I meet this Mrs. Grandon."

Then, anxious to change the conversation to something more agreeable to
herself, she began to talk of their house, thus diverting her own mind
from Sybil Grandon, who after a few days ceased to be a bugbear, Wilford
never mentioning her again, an