"That was right. Now I can pass you off as a young friend. If I meet any young lady friend, don't call me Miss Gilbert, but call me Maud. Perhaps you had better call me that at any rate."
"That's right, and I will call you--let me see, Cousin Mark. I don't want my friends to think I had to send for an escort to a telegraph office."
When they entered Daly's Miss Gilbert met an old school friend--Louisa Morton.
"Why, Maud, are you here?" said her friend. "How delightful! And who is this young gentleman?"
"Indeed! Well, I congratulate you on having such a nice escort. If he were a few years older I might try to make you jealous."
"Oh, you can't get him away. He is devoted to me. Aren't you, Cousin Mark?"
Mark was about to say "You bet," but it occurred to him that this would not be _comme il faut_, so he only said, "You are right, Maud."
"Where are your seats? I hope they are near ours."
They proved to be in the same row, but on the other side of the center aisle.
As Mark and the young lady took seats two pairs of astonished eyes noted their entrance. These belonged to Edgar and his father, who sat two rows behind. Edgar was the first to catch sight of them.
"Look, father!" he said, clutching his father's arm. "There is Mark Mason and a beautiful girl just taking their seats. What does it mean?"
"I don't know," returned Mr. Talbot. "She seems to be a fashionable young lady."
"How in the world did he get acquainted with such people? She treats him as familiarly as if he were a brother or cousin."
"Please take the opera-glass, Mark," Edgar heard Miss Gilbert say. "You know I must make you useful."
For the rest of the evening the attention of Edgar and his father was divided between the play and Miss Gilbert and Mark. For the benefit chiefly of her friend, Maud treated her young escort with the utmost familiarity, and quite misled Solon Talbot and Edgar.
When the play was over Mark carefully adjusted Miss Gilbert's wraps. As he passed through the aisle he saw for the first time Edgar and his father looking at him with astonished eyes.
"Good evening," he said with a smile. "I hope you enjoyed the play."
"Come, Mark, it is growing late," said Maud.
"Well, if that doesn't beat all!" ejaculated Edgar. "They seemed very intimate."