As for Isaac, he had, to his great comfort, remained quite unnoticed, except on one or two occasions, when his fascinated gaze had led him from his vantage-ground against the wall, and he had found himself among the dancers. On each of these occasions he had suffered much, having been severely jostled by one couple, his favourite corns trodden on by a second, and himself finally sent back with a bound to his former position against the wall by a third. Nor did he obtain sympathy from any of them--nothing but scowls. CHAPTER VI.--A PRESSING INVITATION. At length Mr Hoppe, in obedience to a previous request from Isaac, came to inform him that at the conclusion of the next dance--a quadrille--there would be an adjournment for supper. Our hero took this opportunity of asking about the gentleman by whom Angela's song was accompanied. 'I can give you no account at all, sir,' said the Master of the Ceremonies; 'though there are not many gents in this neighbourhood that I have not some knowledge of.' Isaac meanwhile looked about for Angela, and soon discovered her sitting with her aunt and the unknown gentleman. 'You come to claim your engagement,' she said, as she rose and took his arm. 'You look tired,' remarked Isaac, feeling he must say something, and the fact of her looking tired and flushed having struck him first. 'Besides,' he thought, 'women like to be told they look tired.' 'Do you think so?' she replied with a slight blush, as they walked round the room. 'I should scarcely have thought you would have noticed it; but I _am_ rather tired,' she continued, 'as I have been dancing a great deal; and besides that, I feel excited as well, for I have had a very unexpected pleasure to-day. My dear brother, who has been abroad for some years, returned to London to-day without giving us any notice of his coming. He arrived at our house a very short time before we started here, and as he would not hear of my giving up the ball, he came too.' 'Was it your brother who played for you when you sang?' asked Isaac. 'Yes,' she replied. 'It is an old song we learned together many years ago; and as he is a very ready player, it was no trouble to him to accompany me.' While they thus conversed, the quadrille had been formed, and now the dance was just about to begin. 'Shall you mind very much if we do not dance this time?' inquired Angela of her companion. 'Not at all,' answered Isaac, much relieved; 'not if I may talk to you instead,' he added shyly. He had committed himself now to a task far more difficult to him than even dancing a quadrille; for of what topics to choose as conversation with the fair creature by his side, he had not the slightest idea. So they walked on in awkward silence. 'Would you mind making me known to your brother?' Isaac at length asked. 'I will with pleasure,' she returned; and seeing him approach in their direction, she caught his arm, and introduced him to Mr Webb as her brother Herbert, from abroad.