"Such a pity that Erna is out!" she exclaimed. "I had something very important to discuss with her. Not a syllable of it shall you hear, Alice; it is to be a surprise for your birthday. I hope we are to have dancing at your ball?"
"I hardly think so," said Alice, indifferently. "This is March, you know."
"But the middle of winter, nevertheless. It snowed only this morning, and dancing is always delightful." As she spoke, her little feet moved as if ready for an instant proof of her preference. Frau von Lasberg looked at them with disapprobation, and remarked, coldly,--
"I believe you have danced a great deal this winter, Baroness Molly."
"Not nearly enough," the little Baroness declared. "How I pity poor Alice for being forbidden to dance! It is good to enjoy one's youth; when you're married there's an end of it. 'Marry and worry,' our old nurse used to say, and then burst into tears and talk of her dear departed. A mournful maxim. Do you believe in it, Alice?"
"Alice bestows no thought upon such matters," the old lady observed, severely. "I must frankly confess to you, my dear Molly, that this topic seems to me quite unbecoming."
"Oh!" exclaimed Molly "do you consider marriage unbecoming, then, madame?"
"With consent and approval of parents, and a due regard for every consideration,--no."
"But it is just then that it is most tiresome!" the young lady asserted, rousing even Alice from her indifference.
"But, Molly!" she said, reproachfully.