bservations. 'Twill be the grandest sight for thee.
I have seen many but none so gorgeous as this is to be."

Janet went upon a tour of exploration and finding what she desired in
the way of a quiet corner returned for Katherine. They passed down
flights of steps, through halls, and came to a large corridor that
opened upon a gallery which encircled the ballroom, save where it was
cleft by a great stairway. As they stood looking over the railing,
'twas like looking down upon an immense concave opal, peopled by the
gorgeously apparelled. Myriad tints seeming to assimulate and focus
wherever the eyes rested. Gilt bewreathed pillars, mouldings,
shimmering satin, lights, jewels, flowers, ceiling, gallery and
parquetry appeared like a homogeneous mass of opal. Mistress Katherine
could not speak, her perturbed spirit was silent, she held to Janet
and the curtain that hung at the arch, and breathed in the perfume.

"Canst see thy lord yonder?"

"Nay, I see all collectively, but nothing individually; my eyes fail
to separate this from that."

"Perhaps if thou couldst whip them to his ugly frame, 'twould prove an
antidote."

"'Twill come in time,--I can now discern that 'tis the folk that art
moving and not the flowers and lights. I see a red figure seeming
to hurry among the dancers, looking this way and that, peering and
peeping; he has lost something."

"'Tis more probable he is looking for what he has found; 'tis thy
stairway-beau with the rose; he has retrieved it and is hot upon the
chase again. He is looking for thee.--'Tis vain my lord-devil, thou
hadst better use the time to swathe thy feet in asbestos-flax."

The music of the passacaglia floated up and Katherine drank in its
minor sweetness. Presently the dance changed into the chaconne with
its prominent bass theme, again turning to the poetic and stately
sarabande.

"Now I do see the Scot; he is by far the most homely figure anywhere,
and yet, he is graceful, and it must be a very great beauty with him.
How could the master of so great a house look so?" The music changed
into a sprightly gavotte, Katherine's ears fairly tingled with the
confusion of sound. She lay her head upon Janet's bosom as if drunk
with the surfeit of music.

"'Tis more than I could have dreamed. Didst ever see anything so
beautiful before? It seems years ago since we were within convent
walls!"

"'Twill bring thy seeming nearer if thy lord proposes a speedy return
to the cloister.