Gradually the tables were occupied, apparently by the
identical people of the afternoon before, so marked is the
peculiar character of the dance-mad individuality. To-day he
varied his menu with a mild order of cocktails--for now he was
not emulating the Epicurean record of the bibulous Grimsby. They
observed with amusement the weird contortions, seldom graced by a
vestige of rhythm or beauty, with which the intent dancers spun
and zigzagged.
"Considering how much money they pay to learn these steps from
dancing-masters, there is unusually small value in the market,
Miss Marigold. I resigned myself to the approach of the sunset
years, and became a voluntary exile in the garden of the
wallflowers, when society dancing became mathematical."
"I don't understand?"
"Once it was possible to chat, to smile, to woo or to silently
enjoy the music and the measures of the dance in company with a
sympathetic partner. Now, however, since the triumph of the 'New
Mode,' one must count 'one-two-three,' and one's partner is more
captious than a schoolmarm! What puzzles me is the need for new
steps, to be learned from expensive teachers, when it's so easy
to slide down hill in this part of New York.
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