About 8 o’clock the camp-gong gives the signal for dinner, and a party of about twenty or thirty assemble in almost every mess-tent. In a well-managed camp the hostess generally takes care to fill up any vacancies at her table by inviting guests from the other camps. Any member of a camp who is going out to dinner is expected to give early notice to his hostess, so that she may be able to ask a friend from some other camp in his place. By this arrangement an agreeable exchange of hospitality is kept up, and the monotony of always having the same set of faces avoided. Many of the ladies appear at dinner ready dressed for the ball afterwards, but some of the most wary ones reserve a few final touches of dress for after dinner. It is astonishing what a magic effect is sometimes produced by those few final touches. It is hardly necessary to say that during dinner much fun and merriment prevail all round the table. However the guests may be told off and assorted at first, it is curious to observe how, after a day or two, certain young ladies and certain young gentlemen always happen to sit next or near to one another at the several meals, and take a sort of monopoly of certain seats for themselves and their own particular acquaintances. It not seldom happens that some unfortunate youth makes himself ridiculous or in some way obnoxious to the other young people, and then they all combine to make his life a burthen to him unless he shows symptoms of reformation and better behaviour. Of course, long before dinner the ball-cards of all the best dancers are filled up, but during dinner a half promise of one more “extra” may be secured, or some convenient exchange of promised dances arranged to suit the wishes of sisters or bosom friends. But we must not linger too long over the dinner-table. The carriages are announced to be ready, and are rapidly filled and sent off to the ball-room, from which sometimes they come back to be refilled by a second detachment of the party.