in a verse, in which the _sun_ played a conspicuous part,
would have been incontestibly better; but now--Petrea must dance on!

Was it that our Petrea really was so addled (if people will graciously
allow us such an expression) that she had no right power over her limbs,
or did it happen from want of ballast, in consequence of the slender
dinner she had eaten, or was it the result of her usual distraction--we
know not; but this much is certain, that she in _chassee_-ing on the
right hand, on which she had to pass her _vis-a-vis_, made an error, and
came directly up to him. He withdrew to the other side, but Petrea was
already there: and as the Candidate again withdrew to the right, there
was she again; and amid all this _chassee_-ing her feet got so entangled
with his, that as he made a despairing attempt to pass her, it so
happened that both fell down in the middle of the quadrille!

When Petrea, with tears in her eyes, again stood upright, she saw before
her the eye-glass gentlemen, the two brothers B., who were nearly dying
with laughter. A hasty glance convinced Petrea that her mother saw
nothing of it; and a second glance, that she had _now_ attracted the
attention of the Countess Solenstrale, who was smiling behind her fan.
The first observation consoled her for the last; and she fervently
assured Jacobi, who was heartily distressed on her account, that she had
not hurt herself; that it signified nothing; that it was her fault,
etc., etc.; cast a tranquil glance on the yet laughing gentlemen, and
_chasseed_ boldly back again. But what, however, made the deepest
impression on Petrea, was the conduct of her partner, and his suddenly
altered behaviour. He brought the continued and unbecoming merriment of
the brothers B. to an end by one determined glance; and he who hitherto
had been parsimonious of words, and who had only answered all her
attempts at being entertaining by a yes or a no, now became quite
conversable, polite, and agreeable, and endeavoured in every possible
way to divert her attention from the unpleasant accident which had just
occurred, engaging her moreover for the _anglaise_ after supper.

Petrea understood his kindness; tears came into her eyes, and her heart
beat for joy at the thought of hastening to her mother after the
quadrille, and saying, "Mamma, I am engaged for the _anglaise_ after
supper."

But no thought, no feeling, could remain in tranquillity with the poor
little "Chaos;" so many