'Not many, sir. None, I may say. I know nobody who goes to balls.'

'Ah, well; you must go, since you wish it; and if there is no other
way of getting over the difficulty of having nobody to take you, I'll
take you myself. Would you like me to do so? I can dance.'

'O, yes, sir; I know that, and I thought you might offer to do it.
But would you bring me back again?'

'Of course I'll bring you back. But, by-the-bye, can YOU dance?'

'Yes.'

'What?'

'Reels, and jigs, and country-dances like the New-Rigged-Ship, and
Follow-my-Lover, and Haste-to-the-Wedding, and the College Hornpipe,
and the Favourite Quickstep, and Captain White's dance.'

'A very good list--a very good! but unluckily I fear they don't dance
any of those now. But if you have the instinct we may soon cure your
ignorance. Let me see you dance a moment.'

She stood out into the garden-path, the stile being still between
them, and seizing a side of her skirt with each hand, performed the
movements which are even yet far from uncommon in the dances of the
villagers of merry England. But her motions, though graceful, were
not precisely those which appear in the figures of a modern ball-
room.