The girls discussed it eagerly at recess. Jenny Hale's sister Betty was at the ball and had spiced the breakfast with it.
"'Pears like them two girls were jest neck and neck for Dan Hayne, Bet said, 'n he was the han'somest feller in the room. An' Bet danced once with him 'n she didn't see that he was so much eleganter than Tee Kent, 'n she was glad she had a feller of her own. Bet's goin' to be married when Tee's house is done—long in May that'll be—en ther'll be some dancin' then, an' I'll have a sheer, you'll see!"
"You need a little grammar more than you do dancing," declared Martha Dole. "You talk as if you had just come out of the backwoods."
"Oh, you think you're great, Mat Dole! You're mighty stuck up on a little."
"Girls, don't quarrel," said a soft voice, "and it does seem as if we might pay a little attention to teacher. You know she wrote out a lot of words the other day that she asked us to be careful about. Some of us do talk outlandish."
"I'll talk as I like. I'm way ahead of you in figurin', an' I don't care a pin fer grammar. 'Twont help you keep house, 'n I'm goin' to be married first chance I have. I ain't hankerin' fer school teachin' and sech."
"What sort of rigs did they have on?" asked another girl. "My mother's got a satiny frock all lace and white ribbons that she was married in, and in a year or two I'll grow in it. You'll see me dancing when the next President goes in."
The bell rang and we filed back into school. M'liss heard about the ball, and it was dished up at supper.
"The men had a big dinner which was quite as sensible," said father, "except the whiskey, and if they hadn't all been of one stripe they'd quarrelled. Strange men don't know enough not to get drunk!"
Dan Hayne was getting to be one of the young men of note—born lucky, people said. He was dickering in a good many things, and whatever he took hold of turned out well. He traded one of his horses for some wharf property and a few weeks afterward sold that at an advance, and so with most things. Chita, his beautiful mare, was the apple of his eye and always won in a race. If there was a purse she captured it.