We really strove honestly, swung ourselves and swung our ladies,
although many were stiff enough to get round. We were not invited to a
ball; this dance was merely a surprise frolic.

We had dined in all good faith--at least, the stranger cousin had; and
while I stood thinking of coffee, and dreading no danger, the house
began to swarm with young folks who had dined upstairs or downstairs, or
at home, or not at all, or God knows where. The dining-room doors were
thrown open again, the floor was cleared as if by magic, partners caught
hold of each other, two rushed to the piano, and--one, two, three, they
were in the middle of a galop before I could recover my wits.

They immediately forsook me again, when I received a frightful blow in
the region of the heart. It was Uncle Ivar himself, who shouted:

'Come, boy; inside with you, and move your legs. Don't stand there like
a snivelling chamberlain, but show what kind of fellow you are with
those long pipe-stalks that our Lord has sent you out upon.'

Thus the dance began; and although I did not at all like uncle's way of
arranging matters, I good-naturedly set to work, and we strove honestly,
that I can say, with the cousins as well as the lighter of the aunts.

By degrees we even became lively; and everything might have passed off
in peace and joy if uncle had not taken it into his head that we were
not doing our utmost in the dance, especially we gentlemen.

'What kind of dancing is that to show to people?' he exclaimed