There was to be a
good deal of dancing, and before it had gone very far, Marian Almond
came up to Catherine, in company with a tall young man. She
introduced the young man as a person who had a great desire to make
our heroine's acquaintance, and as a cousin of Arthur Townsend, her
own intended.
Marian Almond was a pretty little person of seventeen, with a very
small figure and a very big sash, to the elegance of whose manners
matrimony had nothing to add. She already had all the airs of a
hostess, receiving the company, shaking her fan, saying that with so
many people to attend to she should have no time to dance. She made
a long speech about Mr. Townsend's cousin, to whom she administered a
tap with her fan before turning away to other cares. Catherine had
not understood all that she said; her attention was given to enjoying
Marian's ease of manner and flow of ideas, and to looking at the
young man, who was remarkably handsome. She had succeeded, however,
as she often failed to do when people were presented to her, in
catching his name, which appeared to be the same as that of Marian's
little stockbroker. Catherine was always agitated by an
introduction; it seemed a difficult moment, and she wondered that
some people--her new acquaintance at this moment, for instance--
should mind it so little. She wondered what she ought to say, and
what would be the consequences of her saying nothing.
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