Betty's hand and ran swiftly down the staircase.

The drawing-room in the Verplanck mansion was high of ceiling, a
spacious, stately room, and its quaint, straight-backed chairs, stuffed
ottomans, and carved mahogany sofas were the acme of elegance of those
days. The highly polished floor had received extra attention from Pompey
and his assistants, while the mirrors shone brightly and reflected the
candles of the brass sconces on either side of their glittering
surfaces. Betty, at Clarissa's request, superintended the placing of the
card-tables, and also that of a huge silver salver, on which the tiny
cups for chocolate and the tall glasses for mulled wine would be served
from a table in the dining-room early in the evening before supper; also
a famous bowl of Indian china, where hot caudle would appear, caudle
being an English compound with which Betty was not familiar. Peter
explained it to her with due regard to detail; and smacked his lips over
the bottle as it smoked away on Dinah's kitchen table, where he had
invited Betty to come out and see it.

"Dinah makes a sort of posset first, of oaten-meal, and then she puts in
coriander seeds, and raisins, all carefully stoned (I ought to know
that, for I helped her one mortal hour last night and got my fingers
sticky with the plagued stones), and some cloves in a muslin bag, which
are let lie till the caudle boils, and then removed, and last of all,
just as it's ready to serve, she pops in a good half bottle of
cognac--my! but it's prime!" and Peter cut a pigeon-wing and gave a
regular Mohawk war-whoop, as he danced around the kitchen and
disappeared through the door just in time to avoid Dinah's wet
dishcloth, which she sent spinning at his close-cropped pate.

Betty stood in her small chamber at six o'clock that evening,