"
"I was too busy to heed the time," said Betty, "for I obtained the
recipe for those delicious almond-cakes, and showed Mrs. Waldron the
Vienna mode of clearing coffee. When I came back the fiddles were
playing, and Aurelia going down the middle with a young gentleman in
a scarlet coat. Poor little Robert Rowe was too bashful to find a
partner, though he longed to dance; so I made another couple with
him, and thus missed further speech, save that as we took our leave,
both Sir George and the Dean complimented me, and said what there
is no occasion to repeat just now, sir, when I ought to be fetching
your supper."
"Ha! Is it too flattering for little Aura?" asked her father. "Come,
never spare. She will hear worse than that in her day, I'll warrant."
"It was merely," said Betty, reluctantly, "that the Dean called her
the star of the evening, and declared that her dancing equalled her
face."
"Well said of his reverence! And his honour the baronet, what said he?"
"He said, sir, that so comely and debonnaire a couple had not been seen
in these parts since you came home from Flanders and led off the assize
ball with Mistress Urania Delavie."
"There, Aura, 'tis my turn to blush!" cried the Major, comically hiding
his face behind Betty's fan.
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