182/190 'I ought to leave room for younger men.' 'You need not say so. That bald-headed gentleman is forty-five. He does not think of younger men.' 'Have YOU a dance to spare for me ?' Her face grew stealthily redder in the candle-light. 'O!--I have no engagement at all--I have refused. I hardly feel at liberty to dance; it would be as well to leave that to my visitors.' 'Why ?' 'My father, though he allowed me to be taught, never liked the idea of my dancing.' 'Did he make you promise anything on the point ?' 'He said he was not in favour of such amusements--no more.' 'I think you are not bound by that, on an informal occasion like the present.' She was silent. |