Seven Feet Of English Earth,
And No More, Has The Strong Arm And Fiery Spirit Conquered.
But enough of these gallant fellows; I must carry you
off to a much pleasanter scene of action.
After a very
agreeable dinner with Mr. K - , who has been most kind to
us, we adjourned to the ball. The room was large and well
lighted - plenty of pretty faces adorned it; - the floor
was smooth, and the scrape of the fiddles had a festive
accent so extremely inspiriting, that I besought Mr. K -
to present me to one of the fair personages whose tiny
feet were already tapping the floor with impatience at
their own inactivity.
I was led up in due form to a very pretty lady, and heard
my own name, followed by a singular sound purporting to
be that of my charming partner, Madame Hghelghghagllaghem.
For the pronunciation of this polysyllabic cognomen, I
can only give you a few plain instructions; commence it
with a slight cough, continue with a gurgling in the
throat, and finish with the first convulsive movement of
a sneeze, imparting to the whole operation a delicate
nasal twang. If the result is not something approaching
to the sound required, you must relinquish all hope of
achieving it, as I did. Luckily, my business was to dance,
and not to apostrophize the lady; and accordingly, when
the waltz struck up, I hastened to claim, in the dumbest
show, the honour of her hand. Although my dancing
qualifications have rather rusted during the last two or
three years, I remembered that the time was not so very
far distant when even the fair Mademoiselle E - had
graciously pronounced me to be a very tolerable waltzer,
"for an Englishman," and I led my partner to the circle
already formed with the "air capable" which the object
of such praise is entitled to assume.
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