Now that the engagement had been announced to their immediate circle of
friends she felt as proud and elated as any young girl has a right to be
under the circumstances.

Added to this pleasant event was the social triumph she and her cousins
had enjoyed at the Kermess, where Louise especially had met with rare
favor. The fashionable world had united in being most kind and
considerate to the dainty, attractive young _debutante_, and only Diana
had seemed to slight her. This was not surprising in view of the fact
that Diana evidently wanted Arthur for herself, and there was some
satisfaction in winning a lover who was elsewhere in prime demand. In
addition to all this the little dance that concluded the evening's
entertainment had been quite delightful, and all things conspired to put
Louise in a very contented frame of mind. Still fluttering with the
innocent excitements of the hour the girl went to join Arthur without a
fear of impending misfortune. She did not think of Charlie Mershone at
all. He had been annoying and impertinent, and she had rebuked him and
sent him away, cutting him out of her life altogether. Perhaps she ought
to have remembered that she had mildly flirted with Diana's cousin and
given him opportunity for the impassioned speeches she resented; but
Louise had a girlish idea that there was no harm in flirting,
considering it a feminine license. She saw young Mershone at the Kermess
that evening paying indifferent attentions to other women and ignoring
her, and was sincerely glad to have done with him for good and all.

She obeyed readily the man who asked her to be seated in the limousine.
Arthur would be with her in a minute, he said. When the door closed and
the car started she had an impulse to cry out but next moment controlled
it and imagined they were to pick up Mr. Weldon on some corner.