With which rather spiteful reflection I blew out the candles, threw a shawl over my shoulders, and ran downstairs into the ball-room. I was the first arrival. The room stood empty, and I halted a moment on the threshold, struck by the beauty of the scene. The walls of the vast chamber were hung from top to bottom with faded tapestry, of good design and soft dim colour. From the painted, vaulted ceiling, which rose to mysterious height, hung a chandelier in antique silver, ablaze with innumerable wax lights. Other lights in silver sconces were placed at intervals along the walls, and narrow sofas in faded gilt and damask bordered the wide space of the floor. At one end of the room was a musician's gallery, whence sounds of tuning were already to be heard. Two other rooms led out from the main apartment, both of smaller size, indeed, but large withal, and characterized by the same severe beauty. There was no attempt at decoration, nor was any needed. Having made a general survey of the premises, I advanced to the middle of the ball-room, and began to feel the floor, across which a faded drugget had been stretched, critically with my foot. Then I circled round on the tips of my toes under the chandelier, humming the air of "Dream Faces" very softly to myself. So absorbed was I in this occupation that I did not notice the entrance of another person, till suddenly a voice sounded quite close to my ear, "Well, is it a good floor?" I stopped, blushing deeply. There before me stood Andrea, looking very nice in his evening clothes. "Not very good, but quite fair," I answered, recovering my self-possession before his complete coolness. He smiled quietly. "I guess you are a person of experience in such matters, Miss Meredith." "I haven't been to many balls, but we are fond of dancing at home." "We?" said Andrea, interrogatively. "My sisters----" "And brothers?" "I haven't any brothers." "And friends?" "Yes, and friends." I could not help laughing; then thinking that he looked rather offended, I added by way of general conversation-- "How beautiful this room looks. It seems quite desecration to dance in it." He looked round, and up and down. "Yes, I suppose it is elegant. I think it very gloomy." Again I found myself smiling. There was something so absurd in this mixture of the soft, sweet Italian tones and the very pronounced American accent, not to speak of the occasional flowers of American idiom. This time, however, Andrea did not appear offended, but smiled back at me most charmingly, then turned to greet his mother, who, the two girls in her wake, came sweeping across the room in violet velvet and diamonds. "You are down early, Miss Meredith," she said to me without moving a muscle of her face, but making me feel that I had committed a breach of propriety in venturing alone downstairs. "You look so nice," cried Bianca, who, in blue-striped silk and a high tortoiseshell comb, had made the very worst of herself.