easy shoes he was wearing;
there was not a single thing stiff or tight or uncomfortable about
him. Even his shirt collar fell softly round his throat, and the
bright crimson necktie passed under it was unrestrained by anything
but a handsome pin, which left his throat bare and gave the scarf
permission to hang as loosely as a sailor's.

At length Rahal said, "I see that Boris and the ship are safely home
again."

"Ship and cargo safe in port, and every man on board well and hearty.
On the stroke of six he will be here. He said so, and Boris keeps his
word. I hear the sound of talking and laughing. Let us go to meet
them."

They came in a merry company, Boris, with Sunna Vedder on his arm
leading them. They came joyously; singing, laughing, chattering,
making all the noise that youth seems to think is essential to
pleasure. However, I shall not describe this evening. A dinner-dance
is pretty much alike in all civilized and semi-civilized communities.
It will really be more descriptive to indicate a few aspects in which
this function of amusement differed from one of the same kind given
last night in a fashionable home or hotel in New York.

First, the guests came all together from some agreed-upon rendezvous.
They walked, for private carriages were very rare and there were none
for hire. However, this walking party was generally a very pleasant
introduction to a more pleasant and intimate evening. The women were
wrapped up in their red or blue cloaks, and the men carried their
dancing slippers, fans, bouquets, and other small necessities of the
ballroom.

Second, the old and the young had an equal share in any entertainment,
and if there was a difference, it was in favour of the old. On this
very night Conall Ragnor danced in every figure called, except a
saraband, which he said was too slow and formal to be worth calling a
dance. Even old Adam Vedder who had come on his own invitation--but
welcome all the same--went through the Orkney Quickstep with the two
prettiest girls present, Thora Ragnor and Maren Torrie. For honourable
age was much respected and every young person wished to share his
happiness with it.

A very marked characteristic was the evident pleasure old and young
had in the gratification of their sense of taste, in the purely animal
pleasure of eating good things. No one had a bad appetite, and if
anyone wished for more of a dish they liked, they asked for it. Indeed
they had an easy consciousne