ease any
woman as he now did to soften the outraged feelings of the cook, who was
a stout, red-faced woman, whose days of comeliness and charm were long
since gone by. He at last succeeded in inducing her to accompany him to
the hall, where he arrived in triumph, with a flushed face and nervous
manner, after an interval which had been put to great advantage by the
younger gentlemen of the party, who were all anxious to dance with the
prettiest housemaid.

Their eagerness had the effect of annoying the rest of the maids, and
effectually spoiling whatever enjoyment they might have got out of the
dance in the circumstances, while it by no means pleased the ladies of
the family and their friends, who stood a little apart and whispered to
each other that this sort of thing was bound to be a failure, and why
couldn't papa, dear old, stupid papa, leave _them_ out of the affair,
and let the boys have a romp in the servants' hall without their
assistance?

The pause had made the ladies so frigid and the men-servants so shy, the
pretty housemaid so merry and the plain ones so solemn, that disaster
threatened the gathering, when Mr. Wedmore and the cook made their
opportune appearance.

Max, his cousins and young Hutchinson gave three cheers, in the midst of
which demonstration the Rev. Lisle Lindsay endeavored to make his escape
by the front door.

Unhappily, Mr. Wedmore, elated by his victory over the cook, espied him,
and straightway forbade him to leave the house until after "Sir Roger."
In vain the curate protested; pleaded the privileges and exemptions of
his sacred calling.

Mr. Wedmore was obdurate; and, to the disgust of everybody, including
himself, the Rev. Lisle Lindsay found himself told off to dance with the
pretty housemaid, being the only man in the room who was not anxious for
the honor.

This mishap cast a gloom over the proceedings. The rest of the gentlemen
found it hard to extract a word from the other maids, who all considered
themselves slighted. And Mr. Wedmore had great difficulty in persuading
the men-servants to come forward and take their places by the partners
he chose for them. To get them to choose for themselves was out of the
question, after one young gardener had availed himself of the invitation
by darting across the floor and asking Miss Queenie, in a hoarse voice
and with many blushes, if she would dance with him.

Of course, this piece of daring made a sensation so great that to get