It could not be the hops.
I mounted the hill slowly and in a great maze, getting more
and more troubled. I entering the lists with Faustina St.
Clair, going in her ways? I knew these were her ways. I had
heard scraps enough of conversation among the girls about
these things, which I then did not understand. And another
word came therewith into my mind, powerful once before and
powerful now to disentangle the false from the true. "The
world knoweth us not." Did it not know me, last night? Would
it not, if I went there again? But the hops were so pleasant!
It almost excites a smile in me now to think how pleasant they
were. I was only sixteen. I had seen no dancing parties other
than the little school assemblages at Mme. Ricard's; and I was
fond of the amusement even there. Here, it seemed to me then
as if all prettiness and pleasantness that could come together
in such a gathering, met, in the dancing room of the cadets. I
think not very differently now, as to that point. The pretty
accompaniments of uniform; the simple style and hours; the
hearty enjoyment of the occasion; were all a little unlike
what is found at other places.
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