A BALL IN HIGH LIFE From 'A Rescuing Angel' The counselor's wife sat down on the sofa with her hands folded in her lap. Arla remained standing a little farther away, so that the green lamp-shade left her face in shadow. "My little girl," began her mother in a mild voice, "do not feel hurt, but I must make a few remarks on your behavior to-night. First of all, you will have to hold yourself a little straighter when you dance. This tendency to droop the head looks very badly. I noticed it especially when you danced with Captain Lagerskioeld--and do you know, it looked almost as if you were leaning your head against his shoulder." Arla blushed; she did not know why, but this reproach hurt her deeply. "The dancing-teacher always said that to dance well one must lean toward one's partner," she objected in a raised voice. "If that is so, it is better not to dance so well," answered her mother seriously. "And another thing. I heard you ask Mr. Oern to excuse you. And you danced the cotillon after all." "I suppose one has a right to dance with whom one pleases." "One never has a right to hurt others; and besides, you said to Mr. Oern that you were tired out and not able to dance again. How could you then immediately after--" "Captain Lagerskioeld leads so well," she said, lifting her head, and her mother saw that her eyes were shining. "To dance with him is no exertion." Her mother seemed inclined to say something, but hesitated. "Come a little nearer," she said. "Let me look at you." Arla came up, knelt down on a footstool, hid her face in her mother's dress, and began to cry softly. "I shall have to tell you, then," said her mother, smoothing her hair. "Poor child, don't give yourself up to these dreams. Captain Lagerskioeld is the kind of a man that I should have preferred never to have asked to our house. He is a man entirely without character and principles--to be frank, a bad man." Arla raised her tear-stained face quickly. "I know that," she said almost triumphantly. "He told me so himself." Her mother was silent with astonishment, and Aria continued, rising, "He has never had any parents nor any home, but has always been surrounded with temptations. And," she went on in a lower voice, "he has never found any one that he could really love, and it is only through love that he can be rescued from the dark powers that have ruled his life."