They bumped into another couple.
Muriel became suddenly and devastatingly aware of her own shortcomings. She tried to remedy these by moving her feet with conscientious accuracy.
"One, two, three, hop! One, two, three, hop!"
"I beg your pardon," murmured Godfrey.
Only then did she realize that she had been counting aloud.
The next hop brought her down with unexpected violence on to Godfrey's shining dancing pump.
"Sorry!"
"Oh, that's nothing. A fellow kicked me at f—footer last week and made no end of a bump."
"Did he really? How awful! Did it hurt?"
"Oh, nothing to speak of. I say! That was a near shave!"