little dancing. Different people took turns in playing. I danced--once--
with each of the three girls, and twice with my hostess; then I let Ryder
and the two young business-men do the rest. Randolph danced once with Mrs.
Phillips, and that ended it for him. My own dancing, as you know, is
nothing to brag of: I think the young ladies were quite satisfied with the
little I did. I'm sure _I_ was. You also know my views on round
dances. Why dancing should be done exclusively by couples arranged strictly
on the basis of contrasted sexes...! I think of the good old days of the
Renaissance in Italy, when women, if they wanted to dance, just got up and
danced--alone, or, if they didn't want to dance alone, danced together. I
like to see soldiers or sailors dance in pairs, as a straightforward outlet
for superfluous physical energy. Also, peasants in a ring--about a Maypole
or something. Also, I very much like square dances and reels. There were
enough that night for a quadrille, with somebody for the piano and even
somebody to 'call off,'--but whoever sees a quadrille in these days?
However, I mustn't burn any more gas on this topic.

"I sat out several dances between Mrs. Phillips and Mr. Randolph. He
thought he had done enough for her, and she thought I had done enough for
them all. And one of the young business-men did enough for that springy,
still-young Mrs. Ryder. Once, indeed, Mrs. Phillips asked me if I wouldn't
like to try a third dance with her (she goes at it with a good deal of old-
time vivacity and vim); but I told her she must know by this time that I
was something of a bungler. 'I wouldn't quite say that,' she returned,
smiling; but we continued to sit there side by side on a sort of bench
built against the wall, and she seemed as well pleased to have it that way
as the other. She did, however, speak about a little singing. I told her
that she must have found me something of a bungler there, too, and reminded
her that I couldn't play the accompaniments of my best songs at all.
Arthur, my dear boy, I depend on _you_ for that, and you must come