He became silent, and dreamy, as it were.

The round-limbed beauty at his side crushed her gauzy draperies against him, as they trod the figure of the dance together, but it was no more to him than if an old nurse had laid her hand on his sleeve.

The young girl chafed at his seeming neglect, and her imperious blood mounted into her cheeks; but he appeared unconscious of it.
"There is one of our young ladies I must speak to," he said,--and was just leaving his partner's side.
"Four hands all round ?" shouted the first violin,--and Mr.Bernard found himself seized and whirled in a circle out of which he could not escape, and then forced to "cross over," and then to "dozy do," as the maestro had it,--and when, on getting back to his place, he looked for Elsie Venner, she was gone.
The dancing went on briskly.

Some of the old folks looked on, others conversed in groups and pairs, and so the evening wore along, until a little after ten o'clock.

About this time there was noticed an increased bustle in the passages, with a considerable opening and shutting of doors.