Tiddy came up just then with a pretty, dark little girl
whom he had selected with great judgment from the guests as being
just of a height between Joy and Gail. He had also enlisted the
orchestra, for it began to play "La Cinquantaine" as they all took
their places facing each other. They were all laughing, even
Clarence. The guests, catching the spirit of the thing, began to
laugh and applaud, and--it seemed like magic that it could be done
so swiftly--formed two more sets in the rest of the room, while the
elders, against the wall, watched approvingly.
"I thought nobody but me danced minuets any more," Joy whispered to
John as, her eyes alight with happiness, she crossed him in the
changes of the lovely old dance.
"There happened to be a historical pageant here last summer," he
explained to her, "and there were eight minuet sets in the
Revolutionary episode, so we had to learn. Mother hounded me into
it. I'm glad now she did."
"Why?" inquired Joy innocently the next time she met him.
"I like to maintain my rights," he answered with a little gleam of
fun in his eyes.
But Joy felt fairly certain that the gleam of fun had behind it a
gleam of decision. Certainly John's motto was, "What's mine's
mine!"--even when it was rented.
They finished to applause, and as the orchestra ended its minuet it
slid on into a modern dance, and so did each of the couples, dancing
on out on the floor.
Joy sank down at the end of the waltz on a seat by the wall, with
John beside her.
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