Even Miss Cordelia and Miss Patty were pleased, although of course they didn't show it for a moment.

He was a handsome, lazy-looking young rascal when he first appeared on the scene, lounging against the doorway, drawling a little as he talked to his friends--evidently a lion, bored in advance with the whole proceeding and meaning to slip away as soon as he could.

But when his eye fell on Mary, he stared at her unobserved for nearly a minute and his ennui disappeared into thin air.
"What's the matter, Wally ?" asked one of his friends.
"James," he solemnly replied, "I'm afraid it's something serious.

I only hope it's catching." The next minute he was being introduced to Mary and was studying her card.
"Some of these I can't dance," she warned him.
"Will you mark them with a tick, please--those you can't dance ?" Unsuspectingly she marked them.
"Good!" said he, writing his name against each tick.

"We'll sit those out.