Ellis Whitford had risen to a higher level by virtue of this betrothal.
They were sitting in a bay-window, out of the crowd of guests, when a movement in the company was observed by Whitford.

Knowing what it meant, he arose and offered his arm to Blanche.

As he did so he became aware of a change in his companion, felt rather than seen; and yet, if he had looked closely into her face, a change in its expression would have been visible.

The smile was still upon her beautiful lips, and the light and tenderness still in her eyes, but from both something had departed.

It was as if an almost invisible film of vapor had drifted across the sun of their lives.
In silence they moved on to the supper-room--moved with the light and heavy-hearted, for, as Dr.Hillhouse had intimated, there were some there to whom that supper-room was regarded with anxiety and fear--wives and mothers and sisters who knew, alas! too well that deadly serpents lie hidden among the flowers of every banqueting-room.
How bright and joyous a scene it was! You did not see the trouble that lay hidden in so many hearts; the light and glitter, the flash and brilliancy, were too strong.
Reader, did you ever think of the power of spheres?
The influence that goes out from an individual or mass of individuals, we mean--that subtle, invisible power that acts from one upon another, and which when aggregated is almost irresistible?
You have felt it in a company moved by a single impulse which carried you for a time with the rest, though all your calmer convictions were in opposition to the movement.