"Will you give me the first dance, Toney?" said Lewis.
"No, not the first; there are ever so many of the men who will be too shy to begin if I don't go and ask them, and they won't dare to say no! but I will have a dance with you after everyone is set going. Aunt Dove is coming to look on a few minutes, she says. Oh dear, somebody's drinking my health; I wish they wouldn't. I can't be any healthier than I am, can I?"
Lord Southbourne had risen to propose the health of the heiress, and Sir Evas seconded it with a few words of thanks.
"Shall I say thanks for you, Toney?" asked Lewis.
"Oh, no, thank you; they'll think I'm dumb," and then the girlish figure in white stood up straight and lithe.
"Thank you, everybody, very much; but I know no one would have made any fuss about me if it hadn't been for the General's money, so it's the money that ought to be returned thanks for, and I do. I know it will be very hard to give it away properly, but I mean to try; and may I ask a favour? will you all come at once to the ball in the barn, and not stop to drink wine, because the people are longing to dance, and they won't begin without us."
"My dear Antonia!" exclaimed Lady Dove, smiling deprecatingly as the company laughed, "what will our guests think? Of course, we will excuse you, and anyone who likes to follow you—— On her birthday she must be forgiven."
There was a general move, and most of the company followed Toney's white figure as she sped onward. Poor Sir Evas had risen, but dared not follow without his wife. Happily Lord and Lady Southbourne solved the difficulty.
"If Lady Dove does not mind, we should enjoy seeing the beginning of the ball," and of course, Lady Dove was "only too delighted," and now everybody followed Toney's lead.
There was no room for disappointment when the door was thrown open. The whole place had been cleared, the boards polished, one platform erected for the band and another for visitors. The wealth of flowers and wreaths made the place look more like an enchanted palace than a barn on the Dove estate. But it was not money alone that had done this, it was the loving heart of a girl of twenty-one which had planned it all.