"Dorothy! Dorothy!" cried Cecile, "we've shaved candles and waxed the library floors. Lady Schuyler is here and the General and the Carmichael girls we knew at school, and their cousin, Maddaleen Dirck, and Christie McDonald and Marguerite Haldimand--cousin to the Tory general in Canada--and--" "I'm to walk a minuet with Madge Haldimand!" broke in Ruyven; "will you lend me your gold stock-buckle, Cousin Ormond?" "I mean to dance, too," cried Harry, crowding up to pluck my sleeve. "Please, Cousin Ormond, lend me a lace handkerchief." "Paltz Clavarack, of the Half-moon Regiment, asked me to walk a minuet," observed Cecile, tossing her head. "I'm sure I don't know what to say. He's so persistent." Benny's clamor broke out: "Thammy thtole papath betht thnuff-boxth! Thammy thtole papath betht thnuff-boxth!" "Sammy!" cried Dorothy, "what did you steal your father's best snuff-box for?" "I only desired to offer snuff to General Schuyler," said Sammy, sullenly, amid a roar of laughter. "We're to dine at eight! Everybody is dressing; come on, Dorothy!" cried Cecile. "Mr. Clavarack vowed he'd perish if I kept him waiting--" "You should see the escort!" said Ruyven to me. "Dragoons, cousin, in leather helmets and jack-boots, and all wearing new sabres taken from the Hessian cavalry. They're in the quarters with Tim Murphy, of Morgan's, and, Lord! how thirsty they appear to be!" "There's the handsomest man I ever saw," murmured Cecile to Dorothy, "Captain O'Neil, of the New York line. He's dying to see you; he said so to Mr. Clavarack, and I heard him." Dorothy looked up with heightened color. "Will you walk the minuet with me, Dorothy?" I whispered. She looked down, faintly smiling: "Perhaps," she said. "That is no answer," I retorted, surprised and hurt. "I know it," she said, demurely. "Then answer me, Dorothy!" She looked at me so gravely that I could not be certain whether it was pretence or earnest. "I am hostess," she said; "I belong to my guests. If my duties prevent my walking the minuet with you, I shall find a suitable partner for you, cousin." "And no doubt for yourself," I retorted, irritated to rudeness. Surprise and disdain were in her eyes. Her raised brows and cool smile boded me no good. "I thought I was free to choose," she said, serenely. "You are, and so am I," I said. "Will you have me for the minuet?" We paused in the hallway, facing each other. She gave me a dangerous glance, biting her lip in silence. And, the devil possessing me, I said, "For the last time, will you take me?" "No!" she said, under her breath. "You have your answer now." "I have my answer," I repeated, setting my teeth. XII THE GHOST-RING I had bathed and dressed me in my best suit of pale-lilac silk, with flapped waistcoat of primrose stiff with gold, and Cato was powdering my hair; when Sir Lupus waddled in, magnificent in scarlet and white, and smelling to heaven of French perfume and pomatum.