Yes , I believe I did promise you this dance . '' She bowed to me and skimmed away with Jack . I saw Aunt Grace bearing down upon me and fled incontinently . In my own room I flung myself on a chair and tried to think the matter out . Where did the mistake come in ? How had it happened ? I shut my eyes and conjured up the vision of Peter 's room that day . I remembered vaguely that , when I had picked up Dorothy Armstrong 's picture , I had noticed another photograph that had fallen face downward beside it . That must have been Marian Lindsay 's , and Peter had thought I meant it . And now what a position I was in ! I was conscious of bitter disappointment . I had fallen in love with Dorothy Armstrong 's photograph . As far as external semblance goes it was she whom I loved . I was practically engaged to another woman -- a woman who , in spite of our correspondence , seemed to me now , in the shock of this discovery , a stranger . It was useless to tell myself that it was the mind and soul revealed in those letters that I loved , and that that mind and soul were Marian Lindsay 's . It was useless to remember that Peter had said she was pretty . Exteriorly , she was a stranger to me ; hers was not the face which had risen before me for nearly a year as the face of the woman I loved . Was ever unlucky wretch in such a predicament before ? Well , there was only one thing to do . I must stand by my word .
Marian Lindsay was the woman I had asked XXXXX marry me , whose answer I must shortly go to receive .
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