Not long after the dancing had begun at the party, Marian Almond came up to introduce Catherine to a tall young man. She told Catherine that the young man very much wanted to meet her, and that he was a cousin of Arthur Townsend, the man she was engaged to.

The music, which had been silent for a while, suddenly began again. He smiled and asked her to dance. Catherine gave no answer, she simply let him put his arm around her, and in a moment they were dancing around the room. When they paused, she felt that she was red, and then, for some moments, she stopped looking at him.

Catherine always felt uncomfortable when meeting new people. The young man, Mr Morris Townsend, was very handsome, and when Marian went away, Catherine stood in front of him, not knowing what to say. But before she could get embarrassed, Mr Townsend began to talk to her with an easy smile.

"What a delightful party! What a charming house! What an interesting family! What a pretty girl your cousin is!"

Mr Townsend looked straight into Catherine's eyes. She answered nothing; she only listened, and looked at him. He went on to say many other things in the same comfortable and natural way. Catherine, though silent, was not embarrassed; it seemed right that such a handsome man should talk, and that she should simply look at him.

"Does dancing make you dizzy?" he asked, in a kind voice.

"Then we will sit and talk," said Mr Townsend. "I will find a good place to sit."

He found a good place -- a charming place; a little sofa in a corner that seemed meant for two persons.

Catherine looked up at him. "Yes," she murmured, though she did not know why; dancing had never made her dizzy.

"We will talk," the young man had said; but he still did all the talking. Catherine sat with her eyes fixed on him, smiling, and thinking him very clever. She had never seen anyone so handsome before.

"People forget you," he said, smiling at Catherine.

He told her that he was a distant cousin of Arthur Townsend, and Arthur had brought him to introduce him to the family. In fact, he was a stranger in New York -- he had not been there for many years. He had been travelling around the world, living in many strange places, and had only come back a month or two before. New York was very pleasant, but he felt lonely.

It seemed to Catherine that no one who had seen him would ever forget him, but she kept this thought to herself.

"Oh, don't tell him!" said Catherine.

They sat there for some time. He was very amusing, and Catherine had never heard anyone speak as well as he did -- not even an actor in a theatre. And Mr Townsend was not like an actor; he seemed so sincere, so natural.

"Don't tell him! I have told him that many times."

"Oh, nothing particular," Catherine answered, hiding what she really felt for the first time in her life.

"So Arthur says, and Arthur knows about him."

"Conceited?" said Catherine, staring at her cousin.

"Oh, I must tell him that!" cried Marian. "It will do him good. He's so terribly conceited."

"We shall meet again," he said to Catherine, as he left her.

Then Marian Almond came pushing through the crowd of dancers. She gave a little cry, which made Catherine blush, when she saw the young people still together. She told Mr Townsend that her mother had been waiting for half an hour to introduce him to somebody.

Her cousin took Catherine by the arm. "And what do you think of Morris?" she asked.

Half an hour later Catherine saw her Aunt Penniman sitting by a window, with Morris Townsend -- she already knew the name very well -- standing in front of her. He was saying clever things, and Mrs Penniman was smiling.

Admiring just the dress, instead of the person, might not seem very enthusiastic, but Catherine did not think this. She was deeply pleased.

In the carriage, as they drove home, Catherine was very quiet, and Doctor Sloper talked with his sister.

"He is very handsome and very clever," her aunt went on. "He spoke in a -- in a very charming way."

"I don't know that; but he admired her dress."

"He was not interested in me," said Mrs Penniman. "He talked to me about Catherine."

Her father looked, with a cool little smile, at her expensive red and gold dress. "You see," he said, "he thinks you have eighty thousand dollars a year."

Catherine moved away quickly; she did not want him to turn round and see her. But she was glad he was talking to Mrs Penniman because it seemed to keep him near to her.

The Doctor smiled. "He is in love with Catherine, then?"

"Oh, father!" murmured the girl, thankful that it was dark in the carriage.

"Oh, Aunt Penniman!" Catherine murmured.

"Who was that young man you spent so much time with?" he asked. "He seemed very interested in you."

"I don't believe he thinks of that," said Mrs Penniman; "he is too fine a gentleman."

"He must be extremely fine not to think of that!"

"I thought you had gone to sleep," her father answered. "The hour has come!" he added to himself. "Lavinia is going to arrange a romance for Catherine."

"Well, he is!" Catherine cried, before she knew it.

A few days after Mrs Almond's party, Morris Townsend and his cousin called at Washington Square. Catherine and her aunt were sitting together by the fire in the parlour.

Arthur seemed to notice that Catherine was interested in his companion. "My cousin asked me to bring him," he explained. "He seemed to want very much to come. I told him I wanted to ask you first, but he said that Mrs Penniman had invited him."

Arthur Townsend sat and talked to Catherine, while his companion sat next to Mrs Penniman. Catherine, usually so easy to please, tonight found Arthur rather uninteresting. She kept looking over at the other side of the room, where Morris Townsend was deep in conversation with her aunt. Every few minutes he looked over at Catherine and smiled, and she wished that she was sitting nearer to him.

"Most people like him -- he's so brilliant -- though I know some people who say my cousin is too clever."

"My aunt likes him very much," said Catherine.

"I mean before the other night. That was the first time."

Catherine listened with extreme interest. If Morris Townsend had a fault, it would naturally be that one, she thought. After a moment she asked, "Now that he has come back, will he stay here always?"

Arthur Townsend stared. "But he told me he talked with you for over half an hour the other night."

"We are very glad to see him," said Catherine. She wished to talk more about him, but she did not know what to say. "I never saw him before," she went on.

"I am very sorry," said Catherine.

"Oh, he has been away from New York -- he has been all round the world."

Catherine thought about this, then asked, "Won't his father take him into his business -- his office?"

"If he can find something to do," said Arthur. "He's looking around for some kind of employment or business, but he can't find anything."

"Oh, he doesn't mind," Arthur said. "He isn't in a hurry."

Morris Townsend paused in his conversation with Mrs Penniman, and stared, with a little smile. Then he stood up.

"I will tell her what you have said -- when you go!" said Mrs Penniman with a little laugh.

"He hasn't got a father -- he has only got a sister," said Arthur Townsend. And he looked across at his cousin and began to laugh. "Morris, we're talking about you."

Catherine thought that this was a wonderfully clever thing to say, but she was embarrassed by it, and she also got up. Morris Townsend stood looking at her and smiling; he put out his hand to say goodbye. He was going, and though he had not said anything to Catherine, she was still glad that she had seen him.

"I'm afraid I was not talking about you," he said to Catherine's companion. "Though I can't pretend that Miss Sloper's name did not enter our conversation."

"I have not talked with you," he said, "and that was what I came for. But it will be a good reason for coming another time. I am not afraid of what your aunt will say when I go."

Catherine blushed -- she felt they were almost laughing at her. What in the world had this beautiful young man said? She saw that he was looking at her kindly.

Mrs Penniman smiled and nodded a little. "It's a great secret, my dear child, but he is coming here to court you!"

After the two young men had left, Catherine, who was still blushing, gave Mrs Penniman a serious look.

"What did you say you would tell me?" she asked.

Catherine was serious still. "Is that what he told you?"

"He didn't say so exactly, but he left me to guess it. I'm good at guessing." Mrs Penniman gave her niece a soft little kiss. "You must be very nice to him."

"Oh, Aunt Penniman!" said Catherine in a frightened voice. "He is a stranger -- we don't know him."

"Oh yes, he does. He knows you more than you think. I have told him all about you."

Catherine stared -- she was amazed. "I don't understand you," she said. "He doesn't know me."

"My dear Catherine, you know very well that you admire him."

"Oh, Aunt Penniman!" said Catherine again. Perhaps she did admire him -- though this did not seem to her a thing to talk about. But she could not believe that this brilliant stranger wished to court her; only a romantic woman like her aunt would believe that.