She'll blame me, sir."
Maurice looked at him, and laughed at the solemnity of the man's homely
face. A spirit of recklessness leaped up within him. He said to himself
that at least Mrs. Wilson should not think that he dared not come.
"Very well," he said. "Show me the way."
"Thank you, sir," the servant said, as if he had received a great
favor. "It's not easy to bear blame that don't belong to you."
He opened a door into an anteroom thronged with people laughing and
chatting. The sound of the music was clear and loud, with the voices
striking through its cadences. Across this he led Wynne, to the wide
door of a ball-room flooded with light and full of moving figures.
XXVI
O WICKED WIT AND GIFT
Hamlet, i. 5.
The brilliant glare of lights, the strident sound of dance-music, the
enlivening sense of a living, vivaciously stirring company of gayly
dressed merrymakers, assailed Maurice as he followed his guide across
the anteroom. At the door of the ball-room he was for a moment hindered
by a group of men who were lounging and chatting there.
Pages:
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408