She abashed him with the true forgiveness that forgets, and spoke with all cheerfulness:
"Of course! Why not?"
The incident was closed in her heart. Its influence had just begun in his.
CHAPTER X
THE turbulence of the dance increased as the respectable people were sifted out. Hysteria is a kind of fretful fatigue, and the wearier these children of joy were, the more reckless they grew.
Willie Enslee first insinuated, then declared that he had had enough. He yawned frankly and abysmally. He urged that it was high time they were all in bed. But the women begged always for yet another dance.
"Just one little 'nother," Winifred wheedled.
Ten Eyck whispered, "About this time Winifred always begins to talk baby-talk."
She was soon calling Forbes "the li'l snojer man." Whether the wine or the dance were the chief intoxicant, a tipsiness of mood prevailed everywhere. It affected individuals individually: this one was idiotically amused, that one idiotically tearful, a third wolfishly sullen, a fourth super-royally dignified, a fifth so audacious that her befuddled companions tried to restrain her.