She was really mistress and lady of the place.

And then she had fed these people since morning.

With a sign she bade them be seated, and walking quickly toward the dancing-room, lifted the red and white cotton curtain which hung over the entrance.
There, in a space of a hundred square yards or so, about a hundred and fifty people were sitting or standing.

At the end, on a stage, were the musicians, each with a bottle of wine at his feet, from which they refreshed themselves during the intervals.

An impalpable dust, raised by the feet of the dancers, filled the air charged with acrid odors.
The women in light dresses and bareheaded, and the men arrayed in their Sunday clothes, gave themselves up with frantic ardor to their favorite pleasure.
Ranged in double rows, vis-a-vis, they were waiting with impatience for the music to strike up for the last figure.