THE rooms were now full,--not overcrowded, but full,--and it was
rarely even in that house that so many distinguished persons were
collected together. A young man thus honoured by so /grande/ a dame
as Lady Glenalvon could not but be cordially welcomed by all to whom
she presented him, Ministers and Parliamentary leaders, ball-givers,
and beauties in vogue,--even authors and artists; and there was
something in Kenelm Chillingly, in his striking countenance and
figure, in that calm ease of manner natural to his indifference to
effect, which seemed to justify the favour shown to him by the
brilliant princess of fashion and mark him out for general
observation.
That first evening of his reintroduction to the polite world was a
success which few young men of his years achieve. He produced a
sensation. Just as the rooms were thinning, Lady Glenalvon whispered
to Kenelm,--
"Come this way: there is one person I must reintroduce you to; thank
me for it hereafter."
Kenelm followed the marchioness, and found himself face to face with
Cecilia Travers. She was leaning on her father's arm, looking very
handsome, and her beauty was heightened by the blush which overspread
her cheeks as Kenelm Chillingly approached.
Travers greeted him with great cordiality; and Lady Glenalvon asking
him to escort her to the refreshment-room, Kenelm had no option but to
offer his arm to Cecilia.
Kenelm felt somewhat embarrassed. "Have you been long in town, Miss
Travers?"
"A little more than a week, but we only settled into our house
yesterday."
"Ah, indeed! were you then the young lady who--" He stopped short,
and his face grew gentler and graver in its expression.
"The young lady who--what?" asked Cecilia with a smile.
"Who has been staying with Lady Glenalvon?"
"Yes; did she tell you?"
"She did not mention your name, but praised that young lady so justly
that I ought to have guessed it."
Cecilia made some not very audible answer, and on entering the
refreshment-room other young men gathered round her, and Lady
Glenalvon and Kenelm remained silent in the midst of a general
small-talk. When Travers, after giving his address to Kenelm, and, of
course, pressing him to call, left the house with Cecilia, Kenelm said
to Lady Glenalvon, musingly, "So that is the young lady in whom I was
to see my fate: you knew that we had met before?"
"Yes, she told me when and where. Besides, it is not two years since
you wrote to me from her father's house. Do you forget?"
"Ah," said Kenelm, so abstractedly that he seemed to be dreaming, "no
man with his eyes open rushes on his fate: when he does so his sight
is gone. Love is blind. They say the blind are very happy, yet I
never met a blind man who would not recover his sight if he could."