Mr. Beaumaris, who had looked in midway through the evening—in fact, a bare ten minutes before the doors were relentlessly shut against late-comers—apparently for no other purpose than to entertain the wife of the Austrian Ambassador, saw Arabella, and was amused, guessing her emotions correctly. Suddenly he cast one of his quizzical looks at Princess Esterhazy, and said: “Shall I ask that chit to dance?”
She raised her delicate black brows, a faint smile flickering on her lips. “ Here, my friend, you are not supreme! I think you dare not.”
“I know I dare not,” said Mr. Beaumaris, disarming her promptly. “That is why I ask you, Princess, to present me to the lady as a desirable partner.”
She hesitated, glancing from him to Arabella, and then laughed, and shrugged. “Well! She does not put herself forward, after all, and I find her style excellent. Come, then!”
Arabella, startled to find herself suddenly confronted by one of the most formidable patronesses, rose quickly.
“You do not dance, Miss Tallant. May I present Mr. Beaumaris to you as a very desirable partner?” said the Princess with a slightly malicious smile cast at Mr. Beaumaris.
Arabella could only curtsy, and blush, and be sorry to find that she was so ill-natured as to be conscious of feelings of ignoble triumph over the ladies who had been kind enough to look pityingly at her.
Mr. Beaumaris led her on to the floor, and encircled her waist with one arm, taking her right hand in a light clasp. Arabella was naturally a good dancer, but she felt extremely nervous, partly because she had never attempted the waltz, except in the Misses Caterham’s old schoolroom, and partly because it was so strange to be held in such close proximity to a man. For several turns she answered Mr. Beaumaris very much at random, being preoccupied with her feet. She was so much shorter than he that her head only just reached his shoulder, and since she felt shy she did not look up, but steadfastly regarded the top of his waistcoat. Mr. Beaumaris, who was not in the habit of devoting himself to such very young ladies, found this bashfulness amusing, and not unattractive. After he thought she had had time to recover from it a little, he said: “It is a nice waistcoat, isn’t it, Miss Tallant?”
That did make her look up, and quickly too, her face breaking into laughter. She looked so lovely, and her big eyes met his with such a frank, ingenuous expression in them, that he was aware of a stir of something in his heart that was not mere amusement. But he had no intention of going to dangerous lengths with this or any other pretty chit, and he said, in a bantering tone: “It is customary, you know, to exchange polite conversation during the dance. I have now addressed no fewer than three unexceptionable remarks to you without winning one answer!”
“You see, I am minding my steps,” she confided seriously.