After tea the gentlemen must smoke, and after the smoking there was to be dancing.

The preparations for the dancing created a good deal of amusement and consumed a great deal of time.

Kilian and young Lowder went a mile and a half to get a man to play for them.

When he came, he had to be instructed as to the style of music to be furnished, and the rasping and scraping of that miserable instrument put me beside myself with nervousness.

Then the "ball-room" had to be aired and lighted; then the negro's music was found to be incompatible with modern movements; even a waltz was proved impossible, and nobody would consent to remember a quadrille but Richard.