He felt it like a blow, but very carefully inscribed his name at the very bottom of her list, and retired with a bow of much dignity--at which, with secret wrath, he heard her laugh with Maxwell as he turned away. It was to be war then? She meant to turn him into ridicule before he could unmask her as the heroine of the strange adventure which everybody knew. John was very moody all the evening, and did not half fulfil the expectations of the merry country ladies, who thought it was the business of their partners to be amusing as well as to dance well. John fulfilled the latter requirement, but then they all danced well at Duntrum. They did not know the waltz in those days. They danced pretty figures of country-dances and reels, and other cheerful things. It had never occurred to them that quadrilles were dull--they were the height of the fashion, and the different figures respected as almost a revelation. Nobody "sat out," and if perhaps the assembly was simple, and some of the dances a little old-fashioned, it was very gay. It need not be said that, in the state of mind in which he was, John stayed till the last moment, and presented himself to Miss Wamphrey just as she was following her chaperon to the door, holding together a dress which had been slightly damaged in the rapidity of a last reel. There was a glance of battle in his eyes as he came up to her, with a reminder that this was his dance, which kindled an immediate response in hers. "I cannot stay another moment, May," said the chaperon, crossly. Marion shrugged her pretty shoulders, with a look which spoke volumes of repugnance, and reluctance, and scorn, and made John furious. "I cannot break my word to this gentleman, if he insists upon it," she said. "Seeing I have held on all these hours, _and not gone to sleep_," said John, with something savage in his tone, "only for this." There was a last dreary quadrille being formed, and she gave her hand and allowed herself to be led to it, to fill up a side place. They stood side by side in silence for a moment, and then Marion said-- "It is very noble on your part, Mr Percival, to hold out so long. I am so sorry to have been the means of breaking your night's rest." "It is not the first time, Miss Wamphrey," he said. "Not the first time! This is too much of a compliment. We are not accustomed in the country to have such pretty things said to us." "There was nothing so far from my intention as saying a pretty thing," said John. "This is more and more tremendous, Mr Percival! It was an ugly thing, then, you meant to say?" "What I meant," said John, "was to let you know that I have not forgotten our meeting, which has cost me many a thought." "Dear me," said Marion, "is this all because I said I knew nobody at _that_ ball? Comfort yourself. I knew nobody grand like the lady patronesses; but I had plenty of partners, and there is no need to be remorseful, even if you have the most tender conscience, on account of me."