He passed on to make room for another assortment of new arrivals, lady members of the Chapter, and Daniel's curiosity remained unsatisfied.
After the reception proper, came a social and, to Daniel, very uncomfortable hour, and then Mr. Hungerford, who seemed to have taken upon himself the position of master of ceremonies, suggested dancing.
Of all the captain's society experiences so far, this was the most amazing. He had danced in his younger days, it is true, but his were dances of quite another variety. Quadrilles and Virginia reels he was acquainted with, but tangos and Bostons and all the infinite varieties of the one-step were to him revelations, and revelations of a kind which caused him to gasp. He saw middle-aged matrons dipping and hopping and twisting about the room in company with middle-aged, stout, red-faced men who looked as if on the verge of apoplexy. He saw Mr. Hungerford laboring dutifully to pilot a woman of forty through the sinuosities of the “hesitation waltz,” and when the lady, who was inclined toward plumpness, had collapsed into an armchair, he sought out her late partner and vented his feelings.
“For the land sakes!” he demanded; “what did you do that for?”
“Do what?” inquired Mr. Hungerford, himself as fresh and unwilted as an Easter lily.
“Why, that—to her. Look at her, she's pretty nigh gone! She ain't caught more than two breaths in the last minute and a half. I've been watchin' her.”
Cousin Percy condescended to smile. “It's her own fault,” he observed. “She said she was dying to learn the 'hesitation' and asked me to teach it to her.”
“Well, she ought to be satisfied. If she was dyin' before, she's pretty near dead now. Why didn't you stop sooner? She all but capsized a dozen times in the last two or three turns you and she took around the room.”
Percy's smile became broader. “That is all part of the dance,” he explained. “Watch this couple here.”
Daniel watched as directed. The couple were a young man and a girl about Gertrude's age. They were doing the “hesitation” with the hesitancy emphasized.