But Bressant and Cornelia, as they stood silently arm-in-arm, felt as if it were rather the presage of an emancipation of their own selves.

From, or to what, they did not ask; nor did the old superstition, that such signs foretell ruin and disaster, recur to their minds until long afterward.
Dancing was now recommenced, but, by an unuttered agreement, the two refrained from participating again.

The enjoyment had been too entire to risk a repetition.

They sat down in one of the small boudoirs, which, through a demoralized corridor, commanded a view of the extremity of one of the dancing-rooms.
From this vantage-ground they could see the distinctive features of the assembly pass before their eyes.

Girls who danced well striving to look graceful in the arms of men who danced ill, or floundering women bringing disgrace and misery upon embracing men.