held in respect. Meanwhile as
they stood talking, the musicians were unwrapping their instruments, and
the violin was repeating again and again a note struck upon the piano.
Everything was ready to begin.

After a few minutes' pause, the father, the daughter, and the son-in-law
who played the horn flourished with one accord. Like the rats who
followed the piper, heads instantly appeared in the doorway. There
was another flourish; and then the trio dashed spontaneously into the
triumphant swing of the waltz. It was as though the room were instantly
flooded with water. After a moment's hesitation first one couple, then
another, leapt into mid-stream, and went round and round in the eddies.
The rhythmic swish of the dancers sounded like a swirling pool. By
degrees the room grew perceptibly hotter. The smell of kid gloves
mingled with the strong scent of flowers. The eddies seemed to circle
faster and faster, until the music wrought itself into a crash, ceased,
and the circles were smashed into little separate bits. The couples
struck off in different directions, leaving a thin row of elderly people
stuck fast to the walls, and here and there a piece of trimming or a
handkerchief or a flower lay upon the floor. There was a pause, and then
the music started again, the eddies whirled, the couples circled round
in them, until there was a crash, and the circles were broken up into
separate pieces.

When this had happened about five times, Hirst, who leant against a
window-frame, like some singular gargoyle, perceived that Helen Ambrose
and Rachel stood in the doorway. The crowd was such that they could
not move, but he recognised them by a piece of Helen's shoulder and a
glimpse of Rachel's head turning round. He made his way to them; they
greeted him with relief.

"We are suffering the tortures of the damned," said Helen.

"This is my idea of hell," said Rachel.

Her eyes were bright and she looked bewildered.

Hewet and Miss Allan, who had been waltzing somewhat laboriously, paused
and greeted the newcomers.

"This _is_ nice," said Hewet. "But where is Mr. Ambrose?"

"Pindar," said Helen. "May a married woman who was forty in October
dance? I can't stand still." She seemed to fade into Hewet, and they
both dissolved in the crowd.

"We must follow suit," said Hirst to Rachel, and he took her resolutely
by the elbow. Rachel, without being expert, danced well, because of a
good ear for rhythm, but Hirst had no taste