As Dempster uttered these words, my heart gave a great, wild bound, and
my breath stopped. What if _he_ were to be at the ball in disguise,
seeking a safe and private interview.

"Yes, yes, I will go," says I, "but I don't know either! The mask and
cloak!"

"Never mind about them," says E. E.; "I have a couple ready, feeling
sure that you would go."

"Then it is settled," says Dempster, snatching up his hat. "I will be on
hand. So good-morning!"

XXXVI.

THE LIEDERKRANZ BALL.

Dear sisters:--That night about ten o'clock, three of the
funniest-looking people you ever set eyes on might have been seen
creeping--like black, and pink, and yellow ghosts--down Cousin
Dempster's front steps.

I had on a long yellow cloak, trimmed with black velvet, that just swept
down to my feet and covered them up. Then over my face was a black
velvet mask, with gold fringe, that swept down to my bosom like an old
man's beard, and over that my hood was pulled so close that not a lock
of my hair could be seen.

Cousin E. E. wore a pink cloak, trimmed with white swan's-down, and her
mask shone like silver.

Dear sisters, you wouldn't have known me from the Queen of Sheba.

Dempster was black all over--mask, cloak, and boots. It seemed as if
half a dozen funerals had been rolled into one, and hung on him.

Well, we crowded into the carriage and drove off. It seemed as if we
never should get untangled from the drove of carriages that swarmed
around the Academy of Music, and when we got in, and found ourselves
struggling with the crowd, we almost wished ourselves back again.

I looked around everywhere, as I went, for that tall and princely form;
but the crowd was so thick, and the dresses so queer, that it seemed
next to impossible to find out anything or know anybody. The lights from
the great glass balloons poured down rainbows on the crowd, that moved
and chatted and laughed till the noise was confusing as the dresses.

"Step back, step back!" says Cousin Dempster, all at once, "the
procession is coming."

We did step back, and tried our best to see the procession; but the
floor was pretty much on a level, and, though I stood on tiptoe, all
that I could see was, now and then, the head of an eagle, or a bear, or
a giraffe, rising above the crowd, while the music rang out in thunders
of sweet sounds, and the people swarmed in and out of the little square
pews in the galleries, like bees hiving on a hot summer day.