"May I bring you an ice?" Mr. Grimm asked at last.

"If you will, please," responded the señorita, "and when you come back
I'll reward you by presenting you to Miss Thorne. You'll find her
charming; and Mr. Cadwallader has monopolized her long enough."

Mr. Grimm bowed and left her. He had barely disappeared when Mr. Rankin
lounged along in front of Miss Thorne. He glanced at her, paused and
greeted her effusively.

"Why, Miss Thorne!" he exclaimed. "I'm delighted to see you here. I
understood you would not be present, and--"

Their hands met in a friendly clasp as she rose and moved away, with a
nod of excuse to Mr. Cadwallader. A thin slip of paper, thrice folded,
passed from Mr. Rankin to her. She tugged at her glove, and thrust the
little paper, still folded, inside the palm.

"Is it yes, or no?" Miss Thorne asked in a low tone.

"Frankly, I can't say," was the reply.

"He read the message," she explained hastily, "and now he has gone to
decipher it."

She gathered up her trailing skirts over one arm, and together they
glided away through the crowd to the strains of a Strauss waltz.

"I'm going to faint in a moment," she said quite calmly to Mr. Rankin.