But it was too late on
that day--he would go on the following morning.
It was still the height of the Boston season, which is short, but merry
while it lasts. John had a dinner-party, a musical evening, and a ball on
his list for the evening, and he resolved that he would go to all three,
and show himself bravely to the world. He was full of new courage and
strength since he had received Z's message, and he was determined that no
one should know what he had suffered.
The dinner passed pleasantly enough, and by ten o'clock he was at the
musical party. There he found the Wyndhams and many other friends, but he
looked in vain for Joe; she was not there. Before midnight he was at the
dance, pushing his way through crowds of acquaintances, stumbling over
loving couples ensconced on the landings of the stairs, and running
against forlorn old ladies, whose mouths were full of ice-cream and their
hearts of bitterness against the younger generation; and so, at last, he
reached the ball-room, where everything that was youngest and most fresh
was assembled, swaying and gliding, and backing and turning in the easy,
graceful half-walk, half-slide of the Boston step.
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