"Are you ready ?" he asked.

"Elise was anxious to see the rooms before anybody arrived, so she and the girls are gone some time ago with Maurice Leigh." "Gone! Why, Bellairs, what hours _do_ people keep in Canada ?" "In Cacouna they keep reasonable ones, my good cousin; we begin to dance at nine and finish soon after twelve.

That accounts for the young people being young.

But come, if you are ready." The house where the dance was to take place stood on a slight elevation, so that its unglazed windows, blazing with light, shone out conspicuously and lighted the approaching guests as they wound their way among the rough heaps of mortar, planks, and various _debris_ left by the workmen.

The two gentlemen made their way readily to the open door, and stepped at once into full view of the ball-room.
It was a space of about fifty feet long and thirty wide, running all across the house from back to front.