Was it right to stand listening thus?
And yet a thousand things justified the act.
They moved on from the spot where they had been standing, but I was too much stunned to follow them.

At that moment I realized that I had given my heart to Gertrude Forrest, and that another man had designs concerning her.
This sudden falling into love may appear foolish, especially when it is remembered that I had passed the age of boyhood, and yet I have known several cases similar to my own.

Anyhow, I, who had never loved before, loved now--loved, perhaps, foolishly; for I knew nothing of the lady I loved, and, of course, had not the slightest hope of her caring for me.
Thus it was with a throbbing heart that I stood there alone upon the lawn, with the knowledge of my new-found love just breaking upon me, and, more than that, I had every reason to fear that she was to be made the dupe of two clever villains.
I turned to follow them, but they were gone I knew not whither, and so I went back to the house determined that, if I could be nothing else, I would be Miss Forrest's protector.
I had been back in the drawing-room perhaps ten minutes, when Voltaire and Kaffar returned, and apparently entered with great zest into the festivities of the evening.

There is no necessity that I should write of what took place during the remainder of Christmas Eve.

It was held in good old English style, and to most, I am sure, it was very enjoyable.