we dare not.

PHOEBE (_shuddering_). No, we dare not, I cannot go.

VALENTINE. Indeed, ma'am.

PHOEBE. 'Tis impossible.

(_She really means it, and had not the music here taken an unfair
advantage of her it is certain that_ MISS PHOEBE _would never have gone
to the ball. In after years she and_ MISS SUSAN _would have talked
together of the monstrous evening when she nearly lost her head, but
regained it before it could fall off. But suddenly the music swells so
alluringly that it is a thousand fingers beckoning her to all the balls
she has missed, and in a transport she whirls_ MISS SUSAN _from the
blue and white room to the bed-chamber where is the bombazine_.
VALENTINE _awaits their return like a conqueror, until_ MISS LIVVY'S
_words about his hair return to trouble him. He is stooping, gazing
intently into a small mirror, extracting the grey hairs one by one,
when_ PATTY _ushers in the sisters_ WILLOUGHBY _and_ MISS HENRIETTA.
MISS HENRIETTA _is wearing the new veil, which opens or closes like
curtains when she pulls a string. She opens it now to see what he is
doing, and the slight sound brings him to his feet._)

MISS HENRIETTA. 'Tis but the new veil, sir; there is no cause for
alarm.

(_They have already learned from_ PATTY, _we may be sure, that he is in
the house, but they express genteel surprise._)

MISS FANNY. Mary, surely we are addressing the gallant Captain Brown!

VALENTINE. It is the Misses Willoughby and Miss Henrietta. 'Tis
indeed a gratification to renew acquaintance with such elegant and
respectable females.

(_The greetings are elaborate._)

MISS WILLOUGHBY. You have seen Miss Phoebe, sir?

VALENTINE. I have had the honour. Miss Phoebe, I regret to say, is
now lying down with the headache. (_The ladies are too delicately
minded to exchange glances before a man, but they are privately of
opinion that this meeting after ten years with the dazzling_ BROWN _has
laid_ MISS PHOEBE _low. They are in a twitter of sympathy with her,
and yearning to see_ MISS SUSAN _alone, so that they may draw from her
an account of the exciting meeting._) You do not favour the ball
to-night?

MISS FANNY. I confess balls are distasteful to me.

MISS HENRIETTA. 'Twill be a mixed assembly. I am credibly informed
that the woollen draper's daughter has obtained a card.

VALENTINE (_gravely_). Good God, ma'am, is it possible?

MISS WILLOUGHBY. We shall probably spend the evening here with