u
think, Miss Thorn? You have changed your mind about going, haven't
you?'

'No,' I said decidedly, 'I am not going.'

'Nonsense!' Nelly exclaimed, 'you are. Mother said this morning that
it was settled, and why on earth do you want to keep away? you dance
like----'

'Like a midsummer elf,' put in Captain Gates; 'I thought you did not
care about dancing. Why, you love it, you know you do!'

I felt my cheeks flush, as I realized how foolish I had been, and then
I said, resolving to be truthful at all events,--

'Well, I thought I did not care for it. I did not know till Nelly
started me off how enjoyable it is still to me. But that does not
alter my decision at all about going to the theatricals next Wednesday.'

'It is those, then, that you dislike, not the dancing?'

I did not answer. Kenneth now spoke from the depth of a large couch
upon which he had thrown himself.

'Now look here, Goody Two-Shoes, just stand up and give us a discourse
on the iniquities of dancing and such like. Here is your opportunity;
five worldlings before you! Shall I ring the bell for Tomkins to fetch
your Bible? I would go myself, only I'm just about done up. You will
want a text. Give us your views; it will be most interesting and
edifying. Who knows? You may so convince us of the awful sin of going
to the Walkers', that we shall all send in an apology for our absence,
and from henceforth do our dancing at home!'

'Joking apart, we should really like to know your reasons for
abstaining from evening parties,' said Captain Gates.

Still I was silent, feeling the difficulty of my position; and then,
after a swift prayer for guidance, I said slowly: 'I don't think any of
you will understand me, and I am very sorry I have been carried away
to-night by the music. It isn't dancing itself that's a sin, and I am
not judging any of you; but I know in my heart that dancing and
theatricals are wrong for me; they are the essentials of worldliness,
those and horse-racing, and card-playing, and other things of the same
sort. I want to keep clear of them all, as I know if I go in for any I
shall be gradually more and more engrossed in them. And the very proof
I have had to-night of how my taste for dancing has not gone, will make
me keep right away from it for the future.'

'But why is it such a sin for you?' asked Nelly wonderingly.

'Because,' I said, feeling the colour rise to my cheeks with the effort
of speaking out,--'bec