Mr.
Burleigh, however, gave Sibley a hint that the features he had
introduced the previous week must be omitted tonight, since nothing
that would in the slightest degree lower the character of his
house would be tolerated. The excitement therefore that Sibley had
formerly received from Cognac, he now sought to obtain by pursuing
with greater ardor his flirtation with Ida. Indeed, to such a
nature as his, her beauty was quite as intoxicating as the "spirit
of wine." There was a brilliancy in her appearance to night and
a piquancy in her words that struck him as very unusual.
Nor was he alone in his admiration. The young men from the
city thronged about her, and her hand was soon engaged for every
dance until late in the evening; but on this occasion she had no
opportunity, as before, of declining invitations from Van Berg.
The solicitations of others went for little, the admiring eyes
that she saw following her on every side could not compensate for
the lack of all attention from him. He danced several times, but
it was with those who seemed to be neglected by others. In his
quiet, dignified bearing, in his unselfish affability toward those
who otherwise would have had a dull evening, he appeared to her in
most favorable contrast to the giddy young fellows who fluttered
around her, and whose supreme thoughts were always of themselves,
and of her only as she could minister to their pleasure.
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