"You see," said Jack, "we've never seen you like this before, and you've taken us by surprise."
"Oh, well, get over it as quickly as you can, and then you may ask me to dance with you."
"I don't think I'll ever get over it, but I'll ask you now," said Jim. Which was not bad for him.
And Jack felt the first little stab of jealousy he had ever experienced towards Jim, at his having got in first.
"I'd like every dance," laughed Jim happily, "but----"
"Quite right, old Jim Crow! Mustn't be greedy! You first, because you spoke first, then Jack----"
"Then me again," persisted Jim.
"We'll see. Is that Ralph Harben? How he's grown! His whiskers and moustache make him look quite a man." And Jim decided instantly on the speedy cultivation of facial adornments. "Oh, he's coming! And there's Meg." And she flitted away to Margaret, who was talking to Charles Eager, and so for the moment upset Master Harben's plans for her capture.
With no little distaste the boys had suffered instruction in the art of dancing, as a necessary part of the education of a gentleman. Now they fervently thanked God for it. To have to stand with their backs to the wall while every Tom, Dick, or Ralph whirled past in the dance with Gracie, would have been quite past the bearing. They felt new sensations under their waistcoats even when George Herapath had her in charge, though there was not a fellow on earth they liked better, or had more confidence in, than old George, now a dashing lieutenant in the Royal Dragoons, and quite a man of the world. As for Ralph Harben--well, if either of them could have picked a reasonable quarrel with him, and had it out in the garden, unbeknown to any but themselves, Master Ralph would have undergone much tribulation.
They danced with Gracie many times that night, and grew more and more intoxicated with happiness such as neither had ever tasted before or even dreamed of. And yet, below and behind it all, pushed down and hustled into dark corners of the heart and mind, was that other new feeling which, though it was foreign to them, they instinctively strove to keep out of sight.