"I dare not dwell upon what it would be with
Mr. Adams--or anyone else! You are amazing smart, yourself, to-night."

"This new costume depressed me for a moment, for it is very like one
Laurens used to wear upon state occasions, but I had not the courage to
wear the light blue with the large gilt buttons, and the pudding cravat
Morris inconsiderately sent me; not with Jefferson's agonized eye to
encounter. The poor man suffers cruelly at our extravagance and
elegance."

"He is an old fright," quoth Betsey, "and I'd not dance with him, not if
he went on his knees."

She looked her husband over with great pride. He wore a coat of
plum-coloured velvet, a double-breasted Marseilles vest, white satin
breeches, white silk stockings, and pumps. There were full ruffles of
lace on his breast and wrists. A man of to-day has to be singularly
gifted by nature to shine triumphant above his ugly and uniform garb,
whereas many a woman wins a reputation for beauty by a combination of
taste with the infinite range modern fashion accords her. In the days of
which we write, a man hardly could help looking his best, and while far
more decorative than his descendant, was equally useful. And as all
dressed in varying degrees of the same fashion, none seemed effeminate.
As for Hamilton, his head never looked more massive, his glance more
commanding, than when he was in full regalia; nor he more ready for a
fight. All women know the psychological effect of being superlatively
well dressed. In the days of our male ancestors' external vanities it is
quite possible that they, too, felt unconquerable when panoplied in
their best.

The ball that night was at Richmond Hill, the beautiful home of the
Vice-President and his wife, Abigail Adams, one of the wisest, wittiest,
and most agreeable women of her time. This historic mansion, afterward
the home of Aaron Burr during his successful years, was a country
estate where Varick Street now crosses Charlton in the heart of the
city. It stood on an eminence overlooking the Hudson, surrounded by a
park and commanding a view of the wild Jersey shore opposite. The
Adamses were ambitious people and entertained constantly, with little
less formality than the President. The early hours of their receptions,
indeed, were chilling, and many went late, after dancing was, begun or
the company had scattered to the card-tables. The Vice-President and his
wife stood at the head of the long drawing-room and said go