the most graceful as well as the
best looking couple on the floor.

But Matthew was not the only surprised one present. Dave looked on with
amazement, and Nellie hardly seemed to believe her own senses.

"Why, Fred, when did you learn to dance so well?" she asked, as they
walked around the room arm in arm. "I never had a better partner."

"Thank you, Nellie, for the compliment," he replied, with a slight
blush. "I only hope I managed to get through without exhausting your
patience. I was so afraid I should prove very stupid, I know so little
about the waltz."

"Oh, no, you were far from stupid, and I never enjoyed a dance more; but
I am awfully curious to know where you learned so much without attending
dancing school."

"'Never enjoyed a dance more,' and with me, too," thought Fred, with a
delight which he could not conceal.

"My cousin from Boston, the young lady who spent the summer at my home,
taught me all I know about it," he replied.

"And have you never had any other practice?"

"No, that was all."

"Well, she must have been an excellent teacher, and you as good a
scholar as you always were at school."

Presently the music ceased, and Dave, Grace, and others came up and
congratulated Fred upon his waltzing, and Nellie on her partner.

The party as a whole was a great success, and passed off gayly. It had
no feature to distinguish it from others of its kind in country towns.
This particular event has been briefly referred to, because, as a
consequence of it, something occurred that most cruelly clouded Fred
Worthington's young days, and changed the whole course of his life.

III.

De Vere saw plainly that, in spite of his endeavors to injure Fred, the
latter was more of a favorite than himself. He supposed that he had
accomplished something of his design before the party took place, but
there he found that the result of his malicious endeavors practically
extended only as far as his sister.

Indeed, he almost fancied that his thrusts had been turned against
himself, for no one seemed to care for him especially. He was very moody
and sulky at his disappointment. He had overestimated his strength and
importance, as boys of his stamp always do; moreover, he thought Nellie
treated him very coolly, and it is just possible that she did, as her
time was fully taken up by another person, and the mere absence of
attention on her part was sufficient to make Matthew sullen and
disagreeable.

This