"FIRST couple, FACE out!" shouted Beasley, facing out with an invisible
lady on his akimboed arm, while old Bob sawed madly at A New Coon in
Town.

"SECOND couple, FALL in!" Beasley wheeled about and enacted the second
couple.

"THIRD couple!" He fell in behind himself again.

"FOURTH couple, IF you please! BALANCE--ALL!--I beg your pardon, Miss
Molanna, I'm afraid I stepped on your train.--SASHAY ALL!"

After the "sashay"--the noblest and most dashing bit of gymnastics
displayed in the whole quadrille--he bowed profoundly to his invisible
partner and came to a pause, wiping his streaming face. Old Bob
dexterously swung A New Coon into the stately measures of a triumphal
march.

"And now," Beasley announced, in stentorian tones, "if the ladies will
be so kind as to take the gentlemen's arms, we will proceed to the
dining-room and partake of a slight collation."

Thereupon came a slender piping of joy from that part of the room
screened from us by the Tree.

"Oh, Cousin David Beasley, that was the BEAUTIFULLEST quadrille ever
danced in the world! And, please, won't YOU take Mrs. Hunchberg out to
supper?"

Then into the vision of our paralyzed and dumfounded watchers came the