Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

proached. By the way it was a very rainy day; and, but for Maggie's precautions, the company would have been rendered most uncomfortable by the dripping of the rain through the temporary roof. At the last moment, too, notwithstanding the whitewashing of the tarpaulins, there was found to be a sad deficiency of light in the huge temporary building -a deficiency which Maggie remedied by a suggestion that was made on a similar occasion by a great organizer. She proposed that the carriage lamps should be taken from the carriages of the various guests as they arrived, and should be set up in flower pots filled with sand, and arranged round the daïs in the ball-room. Lord Lochawe followed the execution of this suggestion with great delight.

"A brilliant idea," as he said, of his and Maggie's; and really she had such a way of making her suggestions appear to come from others, that it was no wonder that the Earl was partially deceived, and gave himself more credit than was strictly his due. He had, however, suggested

the sand.

There was one great folly in the arrangements for the decoration of this building. This folly was solely attributable to the Duchess of Brecon and Lady Alice. Two or three days before the ball, they had devoted themselves to decoration, and they had put up sundry ornaments of gilt paper and coloured muslin which Maggie had, from the first, looked upon with great dislike and apprehension. But Lord Lochawe had said, "My dear, we must humour them the Duchess is said to have better taste in these matters than anybody in London; and I must say that I think those festoons are very pretty." Maggie was, of course, silenced, though she was not convinced. The only person whom she could get to sympathise with her at all, was Ruth Sumner; and Ruth's mind was SO much set upon more serious matters, that her sympathy was of a very feeble and lymphatic character.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

THE BALL AT LOUDENHAM CASTLE.

HE company began to arrive; and the new building, when lit up with the additional means of light taken from their carriages, presented a splendid appearance. All the people who were staying in the house complimented the Duchess and Lady Alice upon the taste which they had shown in giving the finishing touches to the adornment of the room. The guests as they arrived were welcomed by Lord Lochawe, in his usual nervous, fidgety and embarrassed manner. But never, in reality, was the Earl more assured of success, or more proud of his entertainment.

The company was of the most mixed character. There were all the great people of the county;

there were all the Earl's tenants, and all his servants, foresters, gamekeepers and tacksmen, and there were all the servants of the various

London guests.

Scotland and Spain are two countries in which there has been found, by some ingenious persons, great resemblance, especially in the

[ocr errors]

matter of religious fervour.' But there is, at any rate, one thing in which there certainly is a great resemblance between these two countries, and that is, in the beauty, grace, and fervour of their national dances. We tame people in London know nothing of what dancing may be, unless we have seen a reel in Scotland or a bolero in Spain.

The dancing, however, began with dances of a more formal character. Lord Glenant and the other members of Lord Lochawe's family, and even Lord Lochawe, in his stately way, did their duty in these dances. Lord Glenant danced languidly, for he reserved his vigour for an

1 See Mr. Buckle.

occasion on which he knew it would be

wanted.

There is a Scotch dance in which the lady suddenly advancing dances down the room. The object is then for the gentleman who, as it were, aspires to be her partner, to keep close to her and to set to her. It came to Maggie's turn to be this lady. This was what Lord Glenant had been looking out for. But not only Lord Glenant, for he had two most formidable rivals : one was his own little London tiger, a little agile imp of about four feet high, who was renowned for his skill in this dance; and the other was Lord Lochawe's favourite piper, a huge fellow about six feet three inches in height, who every now and then gave a lurch with his shoulder to some dangerous rival, and sent him spinning far away; and meanwhile the little London tiger slipped in and became the lady's partner.

It would seem to any person who had not seen this dance, that it must be a somewhat rude affair; but this is not the case, for there are

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »