Katie had never been to a ball before.

We hope that the word ball may not bring down on us the adverse criticism of the _Morning Post_.

It was probably not a ball in the strictly fashionable sense of the word, but it was so to Katie to all intents and purposes.

Her dancing had hitherto been done either at children's parties, or as a sort of supplemental amusement to the evening tea-gatherings at Hampton or Hampton Court.

She had never yet seen the muse worshipped with the premeditated ceremony of banished carpets, chalked floors, and hired musicians.