Wilford would not have exchanged Katy for a dozen Sybils, but there was about the latter a flash and sparkle very fascinating to most men, and Wilford felt himself so much exhilarated in her society that he half regretted leaving it, wishing as he did so that in some things Katy was more like the brilliant woman of the world, who, flashing upon him her most bewitching smile, leaned back in her handsome carriage with a careless, easy abandon, while he ran up the steps of his own dwelling, where Katy waited for him. In this state of mind her achievement at the dinner table was exceedingly gratifying. Sybil herself could not have done better. But alas, there were many points where Katy fell far below this standard; so after speaking of Sybil's inquiries for his wife, he went on to talk of Sybil herself, telling how much she was admired and how superior she was to the majority of ladies whom Katy had met, adding that he felt more anxious that Katy should make a favorable impression upon her than any one of his acquaintance, as she would be sure to note the slightest departure from her code of etiquette. How Katy hated the words etiquette, and style and manner, wishing they might be stricken from the language, and how she dreaded this Sybil Grandon, who seemed to her like some ogress, instead of the charming creature she was described to be. Thoughts of the secret picture and the dread fancy did not trouble her now, for she was sure of Wilford's love; but she had sometimes dreaded the return of Sybil Grandon, and now that she had come, she felt for a moment a chill at her heart and a terror at meeting her which she tried to shake off, succeeding at last, for perfect faith in Wilford was to her a strong shield of defense, and her only trouble was a fear lest she should fall in the scale of comparison which might be instituted between herself and Mrs. Grandon.
Nestling close to Wilford, she said, half earnestly, half playfully: "I will try not to disgrace you when I meet this Mrs. Grandon."
Then, anxious to change the conversation to something more agreeable to herself, she began to talk of their house, thus diverting her own mind from Sybil Grandon, who after a few days ceased to be a bugbear, Wilford never mentioning her again, and Katy only hearing of her through Juno and Bell, the first of whom went into raptures over her, while the latter styled her a silly, coquettish widow, who would appear much better to have worn her weeds a little longer, and not throw herself quite so soon into the market. That she should of course meet her some time, Katy knew, but she would not distress herself till the time arrived, and so she dismissed her fears, or rather lost them in the excitement of her new dignity as mistress of a house.