There were a number of ladies and gentlemen standing talking and laughing loudly together.

The men outnumbered the women, and most of them stood in a circle about Mistress Clorinda, who sat upright in a great flowered chair, smiling with her mocking, stately air, as if she defied them to dare to speak what they felt.
Anne came in like a mouse.

Nobody saw her.

She did not, indeed, know what to do.

She dared not remain standing all alone, so she crept to the place where her sister's chair was, and stood a little behind its high back.