Elegant music
they've got to-night, ain't it? Come, now--just one turn. What?"
Cornelia actually had danced with this young gentleman on one or two
memorable occasions in the past, but was scarcely in the mood to do so
this evening. As she looked at him, now, she wondered how she ever had.
What a difference there is in men I and even more in the way we regard
them at different times. Bressant, simply by being himself, had
annihilated all such small claims to social life as Bill Reynolds ever
possessed.
"I'm not dancing to-night, thank you," said Cornelia; but she smiled so
as wellnigh to heal the wound her words inflicted. "What makes you so
late?"
Now, the fact was that Mr. Reynolds had been weak enough to allow
himself to be drawn into conversation with some friends near the
entrance of the hotel possessing the bar-room with the spittoons and
colored prints already alluded to; and, being the Fourth of July, which,
like many other days, comes but once a year, and a "dry night," as his
friends assured him, he had further given evidence of lack of stamina by
accepting an invitation to "take a damp," When he had finally succeeded
in making his escape, he was conscious that it was in a tolerably damp
condition; and it had occurred to him, as a brilliant idea, to put his
head beneath the pump by way of freshening up his wits.
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