Allen
recognized, from long experience, as the sparkling crown of success.
So much elegance on the part of the ladies present would make the
party the gem of the season, and the gentlemen in dark dress made a
good black enamel setting.
There was a confused rustle of silks and a hum of voices, and now and
then a silvery laugh would ring out above these like the trill of a
bird in a breezy grove. Later, light airy music floated through the
rooms, followed by the rhythmic cadence of feet. A thinly clad
shivering little match-girl stopped on her weary tramp to her cellar
and caught glimpses of the scene through the oft-opening door and
between the curtains of the windows. It seemed to her that those
glancing forms were in heaven. Alas for this earthly paradise!
Mr. Fox, with characteristic malice, had managed that Mr. Allen and
perhaps the family should have, as his contribution to the
entertainment, the sickening dread which the news in the afternoon
papers would occasion. As the evening advanced he determined to accept
the invitation and watch the effect. He avoided Mr. Allen, and soon
gathered that Edith and the rest knew nothing of the impending blow.
Edith smiled graciously on him; she felt that, like the sun, she could
shine on all that night.
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