書蟲5級《園會》她的第一次舞會

Her first ball

Leila found it hard to say exactly when the ball began. Perhaps it began in the car taking her there. It did not matter that she shared the car with the Sheridan sisters and their brother. She sat back in her own little corner of it, and away she went, past dancing houses and fences and trees.

Have you really never been to a ball before, Leila? But how strange—' cried the Sheridan girls.

We lived so far from anyone else,' Leila said softly. 'In the country we had no near neighbours.'

Oh dear, how hard it was to be calm like the others! She tried not to smile too much; she tried not to care. But everything was so new and exciting. Meg's roses, Jose's necklace, Laura's little dark head above her white dress—she would remember these things for ever.

Her cousin Laurie reached over and touched Laura on the knee.

Listen,' he said. 'We'll do the third and ninth dances together, as usual. OK, darling?'

Oh, how wonderful to have a brother! Leila was so excited that she suddenly wanted to cry, because she was an only child, and no brother had ever said 'OK, darling?' to her; no sister would ever say, as Meg said to Jose at that moment, 'I've never seen your hair look so lovely as it does tonight!'

But there was no time to cry. They were at the hall already. The street was bright with moving lights and happy faces; little white shoes chased each other like birds.

Hold on to me, Leila; you'll get lost,' said Laura.

Come on, girls, let's go straight in,' said Laurie.

Leila put her hand on Laura's arm, and somehow the crowd carried them along and pushed them past the big golden lamp, along the passage and into the little room marked 'Ladies'. Here it was even more crowded and noisy. Everyone was pushing forwards, trying to get to the mirror.

There was a big gas light in the ladies' room. It wouldn't wait; it was dancing already. When the door opened, it jumped up almost as high as the ceiling.

Dark girls, fair girls were combing their hair, opening and closing bags, fastening buttons. And because they were all laughing, it seemed to Leila that they were all lovely.

Aren't there any hairpins?' cried a voice. 'I need some hairpins.'

Be a darling and put some powder on my back,' cried someone else.

But I must have a needle and cotton! I've torn miles off my skirt!' screamed a third.

Then a voice said, 'Pass them along, pass them along!' and the basket of dance programmes went from hand to hand. Lovely little pink and silver programmes with tiny pink pencils. Leila's fingers shook as she took one. She wanted to ask, 'Should I take one, too?' But then Meg cried, 'Ready, Leila?' and they pushed through the crowd towards the doors of the dance-hall.

The band was silent, waiting to begin playing, but the room was full of the noise of talking and laughter. Leila felt that even the little coloured flags which hung from the ceiling were talking. She forgot to be shy. She forgot how, earlier that day, she had sat on her bed with one shoe off and one shoe on and begged her mother to ring up her cousins and say that she couldn't come. The feeling she had had, that she wanted to go home, to be back at her dark lonely house out in the country, suddenly changed to a feeling of complete happiness that she was here at this ball.

She looked at the shining, golden floor, the flowers, the coloured lights, and at the stage, with its red carpet and golden chairs, and the band ready to play, and she thought, 'How lovely! How simply lovely!'

All the girls stood together on one side of the doors, and the men stood on the other side. Older ladies, in dark dresses, walked with little careful steps over the shiny floor towards the stage.

This is my little country cousin Leila. Be nice to her. Find her partners. I'm looking after her,' Meg was telling all the girls.

Strange faces smiled sweetly at Leila. Strange voices answered, 'Of course, my dear.' But Leila knew that the girls didn't really see her. They were looking at the men. Why didn't the men begin? What were they waiting for? They stood there, not talking, just smiling to themselves. Then quite suddenly, they were coming towards the girls, flying towards them over the golden floor.

A tall, fair man flew up to Meg, took her programme and wrote something in it. Meg passed him on to Leila. 'May I have the pleasure?' He wrote in her programme, smiled at her and moved on. Then a dark man came up to Leila, then cousin Laurie and a friend. Then quite an old man—fat and rather bald, too—took her programme and said, 'Let me see, let me see!' He looked at his programme, which was black with names, and at Leila's programme. He seemed to have so much trouble finding a free dance for her that Leila felt ashamed.

Oh, please don't bother!' she said eagerly.

But the fat man wrote something in her programme and looked at her again. 'Do I remember this bright little face?' he said softly. 'Have I seen this little face before?'

At that moment the band began playing; the fat man disappeared. He was carried away on a wave of music that flew over the shining floor, breaking the groups of people into couples and throwing them out to the corners of the room.

Leila had learnt to dance at school. Every Saturday afternoon, the girls were taken to a little hall where Miss Eccles (of London) gave her 'top quality' lessons. But the difference between that poor little hall—with an old woman banging on the piano and Miss Eccles shouting at the girls to lift their feet—the difference between that place and this wonderful place of music and golden light was so great that Leila felt she would die if she didn't dance soon.

Our dance, I think.' Someone smiled and gave her his hand. She didn't need to die, after all. She floated away like a flower on a stream.

Quite a good floor, isn't it?' said a voice close to her ear.

I think it's most beautifully slippery,' said Leila.

Excuse me?' The voice sounded surprised. Leila said it again. There was a tiny pause before the voice said, 'Oh, quite,' and they danced on.

He danced so beautifully. That was the great difference between dancing with men and dancing with girls, Leila decided. Girls bumped into you and stepped on your feet.

The flowers were no longer flowers; they were pink and white flags flying by.

Were you at the Bells' last week?' the voice said. It was a tired voice. Leila wondered whether she should ask him if he needed to stop and rest.

No, this is my first ball,' she said.

He gave a little laugh. 'Oh, I say!'

Yes, it really is the first ball that I've ever been to.' Leila felt quite excited, just talking about it. 'You see, I've lived in the country all my life...'

At that moment the music stopped, and they went to sit down. Leila's partner did not say very much. He stretched out his legs, played with a button on his jacket and looked around the room. But it didn't matter. The band began to play again, and her second partner seemed to appear from nowhere.

Floor's not bad,' said the new voice. 'Were you at the Neaves' last Tuesday?'

Again, Leila explained that this was her first ball. It was strange that her partners did not seem to find this more interesting. It was so exciting! Her first ball! She was at the beginning of everything.

How about an ice-cream?' said her partner. And they went through the doors, down the passage to the supper-room. Leila's face felt hot, and she was terribly thirsty. How sweet the ice-creams looked on their little glass plates, and how deliciously cold the spoons were!

When they came back to the hall, the fat man was waiting for her by the door. It gave Leila quite a shock to see how old he was; he ought to be on the stage with the mothers and fathers. And when she compared him with her other partners, his clothes looked old, too, and not terribly clean.

Come along, little lady,' said the fat man. He held her loosely, and they moved so slowly that it was more like walking than dancing. But he said nothing at all about the floor, 'Your first ball, isn't it?' he said.

How did you know?'

Ah,' said the fat man, 'that's what it is to be old! You see, I've been doing this for the last thirty years.'

Thirty years!' cried Leila. Twelve years before she was born!

Terrible to think about, isn't it?' the fat man said sadly. Leila looked at his bald head, and she felt quite sorry for him.

I think it's wonderful that you can still dance so well,' she said kindly.

Kind little lady,' the fat man said. He held her a little closer. 'Of course,' he said, 'you won't be able to go on as long as this. Oh, no,' said the fat man, 'long before you're as old as I am, you'll be sitting up there on the stage in your nice black dress, watching. And these pretty arms will be little short fat ones.' The fat man shook his head sadly at the thought. 'And you'll smile just like those poor old dears up there, and point to your daughter, and tell the old lady next to you how some terrible man tried to kiss her at a ball. And your poor heart will ache, ache'—he held her even closer, to show how sorry he felt for that poor heart— 'because no one wants to kiss you now. And you'll say how awful these slippery floors are, how dangerous to walk on. Yes, little lady?' the fat man said softly.

Leila gave a light little laugh, but she did not feel like laughing. Was it—could it all be true? Was this first ball only the beginning of her last ball? The music seemed to change. It sounded sad, sad. Oh, how quickly things changed! Why didn't happiness last forever? For ever wouldn't be a bit too long!

I want to stop,' she said in a breathless voice. The fat man led her to the door.

No,' she said, 'I don't want to go outside.'

She stood there by the wall, trying to smile. But deep inside her a little girl threw herself down on her bed and burst into tears. Why did he have to ruin it all?

I say, you know,' said the fat man, 'you mustn't take me seriously, little lady.'

Of course I don't!' said Leila, biting her lip.

More people stood up to dance. The band was getting ready to play again. But Leila didn't want to dance any more. She wanted to be at home, looking out of her bedroom window at the stars.

But then the lovely music started, and a young man came to dance with her. She decided to dance with him and then go, as soon as she could find Meg. Very stiffly, she walked out onto the dance-floor. But in a moment her feet simply danced away with her. The lights, the flowers, the dresses, the pink faces, all became one beautiful flying wheel. When her next partner bumped her into the fat man, she just smiled at him happily. She didn't even recognize him again.