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He knew Becky, but he had never seen her
in white and pink, with floating tresses, until now. In fact, he
had hardly looked at her fairly, but now, as she glided into the
moonlight and he paused in the shadow, his eyes took note of her
exceeding beauty. Some sweet, confusing influence, he knew
not what, passed into his blood.
The young men had brought a fiddler from the village, and it was
not long before most of the company were treading the measures of
reels or cotillons on the grass. How merry and happy they all
were! How freely and unembarrassedly they moved and talked! By
and by all became involved in the dance, and Jacob, left alone and
unnoticed, drew nearer and nearer to the gay and beautiful life
from which he was expelled.
With a long-drawn scream of the fiddle the dance came to an end,
and the dancers, laughing, chattering, panting, and fanning
themselves, broke into groups and scattered over the enclosure
before the house. Jacob was surrounded before he could escape.
Becky, with two lively girls in her wake, came up to him and said:
"Oh Mr.


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