A prince of the blood was dancing with Lady Corisande. Lothair was there, vis-à-vis with Miss Arundel.
‘I delight in this hall,’ she said to Lothair; ‘but how superior the pictured scene to the reality!’
‘What! would you like, then, to be in a battle?’
‘I should like to be with heroes, wherever they might be. What a fine character was the Black Prince! And they call those days the days of superstition!’
The silver horns sounded a brave flourish. Lothair had to advance and meet Lady Corisande. Her approaching mien was full of grace and majesty, but Lothair thought there was a kind expression in her glance, which seemed to remember Brentham, and that he was her brother’s friend.
A little later in the evening he was her partner. He could not refrain from congratulating her on the beauty and the success of the festival.
‘I am glad you are pleased, and I am glad you think it successful; but, you know, I am no judge, for this is my first ball!’
‘Ah! to be sure; and yet it seems impossible,’ he continued, in a tone of murmuring admiration.
‘Oh! I have been at little dances at my sisters’; half behind the door,’ she added, with a slight smile. ‘But to-night I am present at a scene of which I have only read.’
‘And how do you like balls?’ said Lothair.