Eleanor was now eighteen, and Matilda seventeen years old.

Matilda was to "come out" at a county ball that was to take place whilst we were with the Bullers, and Mrs.
Arkwright consented to let Eleanor go also.

Hence ball dresses, and hence also our opportunity for learning how to make them.

For they were to be made by a dressmaker in the house, and she did not reject our assistance.
The Bullers' drawing-room was divided by folding-doors, and both divisions now overflowed with tarlatan and trimmings; but at every fresh inroad of callers (and they were hardly less frequent than of old) we young ones, and yards of flounces and finery with us, were swept by Aunt Theresa into the back drawing-room, like autumn leaves before a breeze.
The dresses were very successful, and so was the ball.

I was so anxious to hear how Eleanor had sped, that I felt quite sure that I could not go to sleep, and that it was a farce to go to bed just when she was beginning to dance.