well in view. Suddenly she stood still before the glass and
became serious and thoughtful. Kind and dear Mr. Linley was in
her mind now. While she was asking herself anxiously what he
would think of her, Kitty--arrayed in _her_ new finery, as vain
and as happy as her governess--drummed with both fists outside
the door, and announced at the top of her voice that it was time
to go downstairs. Sydney's agitation at the prospect of meeting
the ladies in the drawing-room added a charm of its own to the
flush that her exercises before the glass had left on her face.
Shyly following instead of leading her little companion into the
room, she presented such a charming appearance of youth and
beauty that the ladies paused in their talk to look at her. Some
few admired Kitty's governess with generous interest; the greater
number doubted Mrs. Linley's prudence in engaging a girl so very
pretty and so very young. Little by little, Sydney's
manner--simple, modest, shrinking from observation--pleaded in
her favor even with the ladies who had been prejudiced against
her at the outset. When Mrs. Linley presented her to the guests,
the most beautiful woman among them (Mrs. MacEdwin) made room for
her on the sofa, and with perfect tact and kindness set the
stranger at her ease. When the gentlemen came in from the
dinner-table, Sydney was composed enough to admire the brilliant
scene, and to wonder again, as she had wondered already, what Mr.
Linley would say to her new dress.

Mr. Linley certainly did notice her--at a distance.

He looked at her with a momentary fervor of interest and
admiration which made Sydney (so gratefully and so guiltlessly
attached to him) tremble with pleasure; he even stepped forward