To whom was I engaged ? There was some awful mistake somewhere , for it could not be possible that there were two girls in Croyden who looked exactly like the photograph reposing in my valise at that very moment . I stammered like a schoolboy . `` I -- oh -- I -- your face seems familiar to me , Miss Armstrong . I -- I -- think I must have seen your photograph somewhere . '' `` Probably in Peter Austin 's collection , '' smiled Miss Armstrong . `` He had one of mine before he was burned out . How is he ? '' `` Peter ? Oh , he 's well , '' I replied vaguely . I was thinking a hundred words to the second , but my thoughts arrived nowhere . I was staring at Miss Armstrong like a man bewitched . She must have thought me a veritable booby . `` Oh , by the way -- can you tell me -- do you know a Miss Lindsay in Croyden ? '' Miss Armstrong looked surprised and a little bored . Evidently she was not used to having newly introduced young men inquiring about another girl . `` Marian Lindsay ? Oh , yes . '' `` Is she here tonight ? '' I said .
`` No , Marian is not going XXXXX parties just now , owing to the recent death of her aunt , who lived with them . ''
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