The bewildered Margery was led by the Baron up the steps to the interior of the house, whence the sounds of music and dancing were already proceeding.The tones were strange.At every fourth beat a deep and mighty note throbbed through the air, reaching Margery's soul with all the force of a blow.
'What is that powerful tune, sir--I have never heard anything like it?' she said.
'The Drum Polka,' answered the Baron.'The strange dance I spoke of and that we practised--introduced from my country and other parts of the continent.'
Her surprise was not lessened when, at the entrance to the ballroom, she heard the names of her conductor and herself announced as 'Mr.
and Miss Brown.'
However, nobody seemed to take any notice of the announcement, the room beyond being in a perfect turmoil of gaiety, and Margery's consternation at sailing under false colours subsided.At the same moment she observed awaiting them a handsome, dark-haired, rather petite lady in cream-coloured satin.'Who is she?' asked Margery of the Baron.
'She is the lady of the mansion,' he whispered.'She is the wife of a peer of the realm, the daughter of a marquis, has five Christian names; and hardly ever speaks to commoners, except for political purposes.'
'How divine--what joy to be here!' murmured Margery, as she contemplated the diamonds that flashed from the head of her ladyship, who was just inside the ball-room door, in front of a little gilded chair, upon which she sat in the intervals between one arrival and another.She had come down from London at great inconvenience to herself; openly to promote this entertainment.
As Mr.and Miss Brown expressed absolutely no meaning to Lady Toneborough (for there were three Browns already present in this rather mixed assembly), and as there was possibly a slight awkwardness in poor Margery's manner, Lady Toneborough touched their hands lightly with the tips of her long gloves, said, 'How d'ye do,'
and turned round for more comers.
'Ah, if she only knew we were a rich Baron and his friend, and not Mr.and Miss Brown at all, she wouldn't receive us like that, would she?' whispered Margery confidentially.
'Indeed, she wouldn't!' drily said the Baron.'Now let us drop into the dance at once; some of the people here, you see, dance much worse than you.'
Almost before she was aware she had obeyed his mysterious influence, by giving him one hand, placing the other upon his shoulder, and swinging with him round the room to the steps she had learnt on the sward.
At the first gaze the apartment had seemed to her to be floored with black ice; the figures of the dancers appearing upon it upside down.
At last she realized that it was highly-polished oak, but she was none the less afraid to move.
'I am afraid of falling down,' she said.
'Lean on me; you will soon get used to it,' he replied.'You have no nails in your shoes now, dear.'
His words, like all his words to her, were quite true.She found it amazingly easy in a brief space of time.The floor, far from hindering her, was a positive assistance to one of her natural agility and litheness.Moreover, her marvellous dress of twelve flounces inspired her as nothing else could have done.Externally a new creature, she was prompted to new deeds.To feel as well-dressed as the other women around her is to set any woman at her ease, whencesoever she may have come: to feel much better dressed is to add radiance to that ease.
Her prophet's statement on the popularity of the polka at this juncture was amply borne out.It was among the first seasons of its general adoption in country houses; the enthusiasm it excited to-night was beyond description, and scarcely credible to the youth of the present day.A new motive power had been introduced into the world of poesy--the polka, as a counterpoise to the new motive power that had been introduced into the world of prose--steam.
Twenty finished musicians sat in the music gallery at the end, with romantic mop-heads of raven hair, under which their faces and eyes shone like fire under coals.
The nature and object of the ball had led to its being very inclusive.Every rank was there, from the peer to the smallest yeoman, and Margery got on exceedingly well, particularly when the recuperative powers of supper had banished the fatigue of her long drive.
Sometimes she heard people saying, 'Who are they?--brother and sister--father and daughter? And never dancing except with each other--how odd?' But of this she took no notice.
When not dancing the watchful Baron took her through the drawing-rooms and picture-galleries adjoining, which to-night were thrown open like the rest of the house; and there, ensconcing her in some curtained nook, he drew her attention to scrap-books, prints, and albums, and left her to amuse herself with turning them over till the dance in which she was practised should again be called.Margery would much have preferred to roam about during these intervals; but the words of the Baron were law, and as he commanded so she acted.
In such alternations the evening winged away; till at last came the gloomy words, 'Margery, our time is up.'
'One more--only one!' she coaxed, for the longer they stayed the more freely and gaily moved the dance.This entreaty he granted; but on her asking for yet another, he was inexorable.'No,' he said.'We have a long way to go.'
Then she bade adieu to the wondrous scene, looking over her shoulder as they withdrew from the hall; and in a few minutes she was cloaked and in the carriage.The Baron mounted to his seat on the box, where she saw him light a cigar; they plunged under the trees, and she leant back, and gave herself up to contemplate the images that filled her brain.The natural result followed: she fell asleep.
She did not awake till they stopped to change horses; when she saw against the stars the Baron sitting as erect as ever.'He watches like the Angel Gabriel, when all the world is asleep!' she thought.
