She would just watch the others, and
she wished again that she had her knitting.
Then the kitchen floor was cleared; table, chairs and
lounge were set outside to make room for the dancing,
and when the violins rang out with the "Arkansaw Traveller,"
and big John Kennedy in his official voice of caller-off
announced, "Select your partners," every person felt that
the real business of the evening had begun.
Tom had learned to dance, though his parents would have
been surprised had they known it. Out in the granary on
rainy days hired men had obligingly instructed him in
the mysteries of the two-step and waltz. He sat in a
corner and watched the first dance. When Jim Russell came
into the hall, after receiving a warm welcome from Mr.
and Mrs. Slater, who stood at the door, he was conscious
of a sudden thrill of pleasure. It was the vision of
Camilla, at the farther end of the dining-room, as she
helped the Slater girls to receive their guests. Camilla
wore a red dress that brought out the blue-black of her
eyes, and it seemed to Jim as he watched her graceful
movements that he had never seen anyone so beautiful.
She was piloting a bevy of bashful girls to the stairway,
and as she passed him she gave him a little nod and smile
that set his heart dancing.
He heard the caller-off calling for partners for a
quadrille. The fiddlers had already tuned their instruments.
From where he stood he could see the figures forming,
but Jim watched the stairway.
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