Page:Life's little ironies (1894).pdf/220
ing the beams of the ceiling, the first fiddler laid down his fiddle-bow, and ssid he should play no more, for he wished to dance. And in another hour the second fiddler laid down his, and ssid he wanted to dance, too; so there was only the third fiddler left, and he was a’ old, aged man, very weak in the wrist. However, he managed to keep up a feeble tweedle-dee ; but there being no chair in the room, and hia knees being as weak as his wrists, he was obliged to sit upon as much of the little corner-table as projected beyond the corner cupboard fixed over it, which was not a very wide seat for a man advanced in years.
“Among those who danced most continually were the two engaged couples, as was natural to their situation. Each pair was very well matched, and very unlike the other. James Hardcome’s intended was called Emily Darth, and both she and James were gentle, nice-minded, in-door people, fond of a quiet life, Steve and his chosen, named Olive Pawle, were different ; they were of a more bustling nature, fond of racketing about and seeing what was going on in the world. The two couples had arranged to get married on the same day, and that not long thence; Tony’s wedding being a sort of stimulant, as is often the case; I've noticed it professionally many times.
They danced with such a will as only young people in that stage of courtship can dance; and it happened that as the evening wore on James had for his partner Stephen’s plighted one, Olive, at the same time that Stephen wae dancing with James’s Emily. It was noticed that in spite o' the exchange the young men seemed to enjoy the dance no less than before, By-and-by they were treading another tune in the same changed order as we had noticed earlier, and though at first each one had held the other’s mistress strictly at half-arm’s length, leat there should be shown any