“Is it so important?” he asked. “I have no turn for dancing, Mama, and such an evening as you will no doubt pass is of all things the most insipid!”
“Well, it is rather important,” she confessed. “It would be thought strange if you were absent, dear Charles!”
“Good heavens, Mama, I have been absent from all such affairs in this house!”
“As a matter of fact, this party is to be a little larger than we first thought it would be!” she said desperately.
He bent one of his disconcerting stares upon her. “Indeed! I had collected that some twenty persons were to be invited?”
“There — there will be a few more than that!” she said.
“How many more?”
She became intent on disentangling the fringe of her shawl from the arm of her chair. “Well, we thought perhaps it would be best — since it is our first party for your cousin, and your uncle particularly desired me to launch her upon society — to give a set ball, Charles! And your father promises to bring the Duke of York to it, if only for half an hour! It seems he is well acquainted with Horace. I am sure it is most gratifying!”
“How many persons, ma’am, have you invited to this precious ball?” demanded Mr. Rivenhall, ungratified.
“Not — not above four hundred!” faltered his guilty parent. “And they will not all of them come, dear Charles!”