Scarce one but was related to half the people in the room.

And all were in the gayest of spirits, for there, in a far corner, old Nicholas Grut every now and again gave the strings of his fiddle an impatient twang, as an intimation that all this was sheer waste of time, and that the only proper business in life was dancing.

And presently they would begin, and they would dance until the sun rose, and then--well, the new day had its own rites and ceremonies, and eyes were bright and pulses leaping, and hearts were all a-flutter with hopes and fears of what the day might bring.
"And who is this, Jeanne Falla ?" I asked, as one came in whom I had never seen before--a young man, dark and well-looking, and very handsomely dressed compared with the rest of us.

And he stood so long before the green-bed, gazing at Carette, that there sprang up in me a sudden desire to take him by the neck and drag him away, or, better still, to hurl him through the open door into outer darkness.
"Tiens!" said Aunt Jeanne softly, "it is the young Torode--" "Torode?
I do not know him.

Who is he ?" "C'est ca.