He launched out into a little gayety, resumed his quiet dinner-parties; and, after some persuasion, took his now blooming daughter to a ball given by the officers of Chatham.
She was the belle of the ball beyond dispute, and danced with ethereal grace and athletic endurance.

She was madly fond of waltzing, and here she encountered what she was pleased to call a divine dancer.

It was a Mr.Reginald Falcon, a gentleman who had retired to the seaside to recruit his health and finances sore tried by London and Paris.

Falcon had run through his fortune, but had acquired, in the process, certain talents which, as they cost the acquirer dear, so they sometimes repay him, especially if he is not overburdened with principle, and adopts the notion that, the world having plucked him, he has a right to pluck the world.

He could play billiards well, but never so well as when backing himself for a heavy stake.