"I am glad you are pleased, and I am glad you think it successful; but,
you know, I am no judge, for this is my first ball!"

"Ah! to be sure; and yet it seems impossible," he contended, in a tone
of murmuring admiration.

"Oh! I have been at little dances at my sisters' -- half behind the
door," she added, with a slight smile. "But to-night I am present at a
scene of which I have only read."

"And how do you like balls?" said Lothair.

"I think I shall like them very much," said Lady Corisande; "but
to-night, I will confess, I am a little nervous."

"You do not look so."

"I am glad of that."

"Why?"

"Is it not a sign of weakness?"

"Can feeling be weakness?"

"Feeling without sufficient cause is, I should think." And then, and
in a tone of some archness, she said, "And how do you like balls?"

"Well, I like them amazingly," said Lothair. "They seem to me to have
every quality which can render an entertainment agreeable: music, light,