was a stirring man in political
life, rich, clever, well-connected, and much sought after. He was
an old school-fellow of Mr. Porter's, and their intimacy had
never been wholly laid aside, notwithstanding the severance of
their paths in life. Now that Mary must be taken out, the
Brook-street house was one of the first to which the Porters
turned, and the invitation to this ball was one of the first
consequences.

If the truth must be told, neither her father nor mother were in
sympathy with Mary as they gradually neared the place of setting
down, and would far rather have been going to a much less
imposing place, where they could have driven up at once to the
door, and would not have been made uncomfortable by the shoutings
of their names from servant to servant. However, after the first
plunge, when they had made their bows to their kind and smiling
hostess, and had passed on into the already well filled rooms,
their shyness began to wear off, and they could in some sort
enjoy the beauty of the sight from a quiet corner. They were not
long troubled with Miss Mary. She had not been in the ball-room
two minutes before the eldest son of the house had found her out
and engaged her for the next waltz. They had met several times
already, and were on the best terms; and the freshness and
brightness of her look and manner, and the evident enjoyment of
her partner, as they laughed and talked together in the intervals
of the dance, soon attracted the attention of the young men, who
began to ask one another, "Who is Norman dancing with?" and to
ejaculate with various strength, according to their several
temperaments, as to her face, and figure, and dress.

As they were returning towards Mrs. Porter, Norman was pulled by
the sleeve more than once, and begged to be allowed to introduce
first one and then another of his friends.

Mary gave herself up to the fascination of the scene. She had
never been in rooms so perfectly lighted, with such a floor, such
exquisite music, and so many pretty and well-bred looking people,
and she gave herself up to enjoy it with all her heart and soul,
and danced and laughed and talked herself into the good graces of
partner after partner, till she began to attract the notice of
some of the ill-natured people who are to be found in every room,
and who cannot pardon the pure, and buoyant, and unsuspecting
mirth which carries away all but themselves in its bright stream.
So Mary passed on from one