If you can, Geary, I should like to have you take his place for a while, at least until we get through with this contract case.

I don't know about Fischer.

He's sick so often, I'm afraid we may have to let him go altogether." Suddenly the orchestra downstairs broke out into a clash of harmony and then swung off with the beat and cadence of a waltz.

The dance was beginning; a great bustle and hurrying commenced about the dressing-rooms and at the head of the stairs; everybody went down.

In the front parlour by the mantel Henrietta Vance and Turner stood on either side of Mrs.Vance, receiving, shaking hands, and laughing and talking with the different guests who came up singly, in couples, or in noisy groups.
No one was dancing yet.