osite one large dim
lantern glowed softly amid palms and flowers. To Aurora every goose
present that evening was a swan. There were frumpy dresses more than a
few,--there always are,--and there was the usual proportion of plain
girls and uninteresting men, but she did not see those. She saw a crowd
more brilliant and beautiful and fit to be loved than had ever before
been assembled beneath one roof. Her heart felt very large, very soft,
very light.

All evening it had seemed to her rather as if she walked in a dream.
More than ever now, as she stopped to take account of all the
wonderfulness surrounding her, it felt to her like a dream; so that she
said to herself, "This is I, Nell--is it possible? Is it possible that
this is I--Nell?"

And no doubt because she had been too excitedly happy and was tired, and
the time had come for some degree of reaction, her joy fell, withered
like a child's collapsing pink balloon, when, contrasting the present
with the past for the sake of seeing the things before her as more
rarely full of wonder and charm, she saw those other things. Memories
she did not willingly call up rose of themselves, and forced her to give
them her attention in the midst of that scene of flowers, light, music.
The brightness, the flavor, went out of these as if under an unkind
magic.

"It's a wonder," she thought, "that I can ever be as happy as I am. I do
wonder at myself how I can do it to rejoice."

But the next minute she was smiling again, sweetly, heart-wholly,
forgetfully. She had caught sight of Gerald looking at her as if about
to approach.

"Who are you going to dance the cotillion with?" she asked gaily.

"You, Mrs. Hawthorne, with your kind consent."

"No, I couldn't do it. I only dance a little bit, just what Estelle has
taught me since we've been here. I don't keep step very well; I walk all
over my partner's feet. Besides, it wouldn't do, because I've already
refused to dance with Mr. Landini."

"Sit it out with me, then, I implore you, if you positively do not wish
to dance."

"Oh, but you must dance! I want you to. I want to behold you all stuck
over with favors."

"It's true that I must have a few favors for Lily; but couldn't a good
fairy arrange it, and then we let the others heat themselves while we
keep cool and rest? I feared a moment ago that you were feeling tired,
Mrs. Hawthorne."

"Look!" she whispered, interrupting him.

He imperceptibly turned in the direction of