len caught the idea; seized Miss Allan by the arm, and whirled
round the room, now curtseying, now spinning round, now tripping this
way and that like a child skipping through a meadow.

"This is the dance for people who don't know how to dance!" she cried.
The tune changed to a minuet; St. John hopped with incredible swiftness
first on his left leg, then on his right; the tune flowed melodiously;
Hewet, swaying his arms and holding out the tails of his coat, swam down
the room in imitation of the voluptuous dreamy dance of an Indian maiden
dancing before her Rajah. The tune marched; and Miss Allen advanced with
skirts extended and bowed profoundly to the engaged pair. Once
their feet fell in with the rhythm they showed a complete lack of
self-consciousness. From Mozart Rachel passed without stopping to old
English hunting songs, carols, and hymn tunes, for, as she had observed,
any good tune, with a little management, became a tune one could dance
to. By degrees every person in the room was tripping and turning in
pairs or alone. Mr. Pepper executed an ingenious pointed step derived
from figure-skating, for which he once held some local championship;
while Mrs. Thornbury tried to recall an old country dance which she had
seen danced by her father's tenants in Dorsetshire in the old days. As
for Mr. and Mrs. Elliot, they gallopaded round and round the room with
such impetuosity that the other dancers shivered at their approach. Some
people were heard to criticise the performance as a romp; to others it
was the most enjoyable part of the evening.

"Now for the great round dance!" Hewet shouted. Instantly a gigantic
circle was formed, the dancers holding hands and shouting out, "D'you
ken John Peel," as they swung faster and faster and faster, until the
strain was too great, and one link of the chain--Mrs. Thornbury--gave
way, and the rest went flying across the room in all directions, to
land upon the floor or the chairs or in each other's arms as seemed most
convenient.

Rising from these positions, breathless and unkempt, it struck them for
the first time that the electric lights pricked the air very vainly, and
instinctively a great many eyes turned to the windows. Yes--there was
the dawn. While they had been dancing the night had passed, and it had
come. Outside, the mountains showed very pure and remote; the dew was
sparkling on the grass, and the sky was flushed with blue, save for the
pale yellows and pinks in t