I heard Mrs. Van tell old Mrs. Joy that it was going to be a
marrying year, so you’ll be sure to catch it,” answered Rose,
reefing her skirts, for, with all his training, Mac still found it
difficult to keep his long legs out of the man-traps.
“It doesn’t look like a painful disease, but I must be careful, for I’ve
no time to be ill now. What are the symptoms?” asked Mac, trying
to combine business with pleasure and improve his mind while
doing his duty.
“If you ever come back I’ll tell you,” laughed Rose as he danced
away into the wrong corner, bumped smartly against another
gentleman, and returned as soberly as if that was the proper figure.
“Well, tell me ‘how not to do it,’ ” he said, subsiding for a
moment’s talk when Rose had floated to and fro in her turn.
“Oh! You see some young girl who strikes you as particularly
charming whether she really is or not doesn’t matter a bit and you
begin to think about her a great deal, to want to see her, and to get
generally sentimental and absurd,” began Rose, finding it difficult
to give a diagnosis of the most mysterious disease under the sun.
“Don’t think it sounds enticing. Can’t I find an antidote somewhere,
for if it is in the air this year I’m sure to get it, and it may be fatal,”
said Mac, who felt pretty lively and liked to make Rose merry, for
he suspected that she had a little trouble from a hint Dr. Alec had
given him.
“I hope you will catch it, because you’ll be so funny.?
“Will you take care of me as you did before, or have you got your
hands full??
“I’ll help, but really with Archie and Steve and Charlie, I shall have
enough to do. You’d better take it lightly the first time, and so
won’t need much care.?
“Very well, how shall I begin? Enlighten my ignorance and start
me right, I beg.?
“Go about and see people, make yourself agreeable, and not sit in
corners observing other people as if they were puppets dancing for
your amusement. I heard Mrs. Van once say that propinquity
works wonders, and she ought to know, having married off two
daughters, and just engaged a third to ‘a most charming young
man.’?
“Good lack! The cure sounds worse than the disease. Propinquity,
hey? Why, I may be in danger this identical moment and can’t flee
for my life,” said Mac, gently catching her round the waist for a
general waltz.
“Don’t be alarmed, but mind your steps, for Charlie is looking at
us, and I want you to do your best. That’s perfect take me quite
round, for I love to waltz and seldom get a good turn except with
you boys,” said Rose, smiling up at him approvingly as his strong
arm guided her among the revolving couples and his feet kept time
without a fault.
“This certainly is a great improvement on the chair business, to
which I have devoted myself with such energy that I’ve broken the
backs of two partners and dislocated the arm of the old rocker. I
took an occasional turn with that heavy party, thinking it good
practice in case I ever happen to dance with stout ladies.” And
Mac nodded toward Annabel, pounding gaily with Mr. Tokio,
whose yellow countenance beamed as his beady eyes rested on his
plump fianc‚e.
Pausing in the midst of her merriment at the image of Mac and the
old rocking chair, Rose said reprovingly, “Though a heathen
Chinee, Fun puts you to shame, for he did not ask foolish questions
but went a-wooing like a sensible little man, and I’ve no doubt
Annabel will be very happy.?
“Choose me a suitable divinity and I will try to adore. Can I do
more than that to retrieve my character?” answered Mac, safely
landing his partner and plying the fan according to instructions.
“How would Emma do?” inquired Rose, whose sense of the
ludicrous was strong and who could not resist the temptation of
horrifying Mac by the suggestion.
“Never! It sets my teeth on edge to look at her tonight. I suppose