"May I have this dance, please, ma'am?"
"With pleasure,"—Sally for a wonder did not forget to mumble. She did not have the slightest idea who her partner was, but then that is the fun of a masquerade.
"And will you dance with me?" the monk asked in a very solemn tone, bowing to Janet.
Janet got up and then sat down again very suddenly; there was an awkward pause, and then she managed to say:
"But I don't know how to dance." Gone was the mumble, gone was every thought except the misery of the minute.
But the monk, instead of being disappointed, gave a mighty sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness for that," he said heartily. "I hate to dance, myself, so let's go and see if we can't find some lemonade. This hood is so hot I need something to cool me off."
Janet did not wait to be coaxed. She took the arm he offered her, and they soon disappeared into the crowd.
Little Jack Horner shifted from one foot to the other in his embarrassment at finding himself between two girls. At last he said,
"I want to dance with one of you but blest if I can tell which, you are as alike as two peas. I wish you would stop that mumbling and let me hear your voices. I bet I know you both."