"Anything the matter?" said her partner.
"N—no," said Cinderella; but she made no effort to move.
"Well, shall we come?"
"Y—yes."
She waited a moment longer, dropped her fan under the table, picked it up slowly, and followed him out.
"Let's sit down here," she said in the hall; "not upstairs."
They sat in silence; for he had exhausted his stock of questions at the end of their first dance, and had told her all about Australia during supper; while she apparently had no desire for conversation of any kind, being wrapped up in her thoughts.
"I'll wait here," she said, as a dance began. "If you see mother, I wish you'd send her to me."
Her mother came up eagerly.
"Well, dear?" she said.