第34章

He had her on his arm, soft, light, and fragrant as zephyr, and her cool breath wooing his neck; oh, the thrill of that moment! but her first word was to ask him, with considerable anxiety, "Why did mamma leave you?""Miss Dodd, I am the most unhappy of men.""No doubt! no doubt!" said she, a little crossly. She added with one of her gushes of naivete, "and I shall be unhappy too if you go and displease mamma.""What could I do? A gang of snobbesses were detracting from--somebody. To speak plainly, they were running down the loveliest of her sex. Your mamma told me to keep quiet. And so I did till I got a fair chance, and then I gave it them in their teeth." He ground his own, and added, "Ithink I was very good not to kick them.".Julia coloured with pleasure, and proceeded to turn it off. "Oh! most forbearing and considerate," said she. "Ah! by the way, I think I did hear some ladies express a misgiving as to the pecuniary value of my costume; ha! ha! Oh--you--foolish!--Fancy noticing that! Why it is in little sneers that the approval of the ladies shows itself at a ball, and it is a much sincerer compliment than the gentlemen's bombastical praises: 'the fairest of her sex,' and so on; that none but the 'silliest of her sex' believe.""Miss Dodd, I never said the fairest of her sex. I said the loveliest.""Oh, that alters the case entirely," said Julia, whose spirits were mounting with the lights and music, and Alfred's company; "so now come and be reconciled to the best and wisest of her sex; ay, and the beautifullest, if you but knew her sweet, dear, darling face as I do.

There she is; let us fly."

"Mamma, here is a penitent for you, real or feigned, I don't know which.""Real, Mrs. Dodd," said Alfred. " I had no right to disobey you and risk a scene. You served me right by abandoning me; I feel the rebuke and its justice. Let me hope your vengeance will go no further."Mrs. Dodd smiled at the grandiloquence of youth, and told him he had mistaken her character. "I saw I had acquired a generous, hot-headed ally, who was bent on doing battle with insects; so I withdrew; but so Ishould at Waterloo, or anywhere else where people put themselves in a passion."The band struck up again.

"Ah!" said Julia, "and I promised you this dance; but it is a waltz and my guardian angel objects to the _valse a deux temps._""Decidedly. Should all the mothers in England permit their daughters to romp and wrestle in public, and call it waltzing, I must stand firm till they return to their senses."Julia looked at Alfred despondently. He took his cue and said with a smile, "Well, perhaps it is a little rompy; a donkey's gallop and then twirl her like a mop.""Since you admit that, perhaps you can waltz properly?" said Mrs. Dodd.

Alfred said he ought; he had given his whole soul to it in Germany last Long.

"Then I can have the pleasure of dropping the tyrant. Away with you both while there is room to circulate."Alfred took his partner delicately; they made just two catlike steps forward, and melted into the old-fashioned waltz.

It was an exquisite moment. To most young people Love comes after a great deal of waltzing. But this pair brought the awakened tenderness and trembling sensibilities of two burning hearts to this their first intoxicating whirl. To them, therefore, everything was an event, everything was a thrill--the first meeting and timid pressure of their hands, the first delicate enfolding of her supple waist by his strong arm but trembling hand, the delightful unison of their unerring feet, the movement, the music, the soft delicious whirl, her cool breath saluting his neck, his ardent but now liquid eyes seeking hers tenderly, and drinking them deep, hers that now and then sipped his so sweetly--all these were new and separate joys, that linked themselves in one soft delirium of bliss. It was not a waltz it was an Ecstasy.

Starting almost alone, this peerless pair danced a gauntlet. On each side admiration and detraction buzzed all the time.

"Beautiful! They are turning in the air.""Quite gone by. That's how the old fogies dance."Chorus of shallow males: "How well she waltzes."Chorus of shallow females: "How well he waltzes."But they noted neither praise nor detraction: they saw nothing, heard nothing, felt nothing, but themselves and the other music, till two valsers _a deux temps_ plunged into them. Thus smartly reminded they had not earth all to themselves, they laughed good-humouredly and paused.

"Ah! I am happy!" gushed from Julia. She hushed at herself, and said severely, "You dance very well, sir." This was said to justify her unguarded admission, and did, after a fashion. "I think it is time to go to mamma," said she demurely.

"So soon? And I had so much to say to you.""Oh, very well. I am all attention."

The sudden facility offered set Alfred stammering a little. "I wanted to apologise to you for something--you are so good you seem to have forgotten it--but I dare not hope that--I mean at Henley--when the beauty of your character, and your goodness, so overpowered me, that a fatal impulse----""What do you mean, sir?" said Julia, looking him full in the face, like an offended lion, while, with true feminine and Julian inconsistency her bosom fluttered like a dove. "I never exchanged one word with you in my life before to-day; and I never shall again if you pretend the contrary."Alfred stood stupified, and looked at her in piteous amazement.