General admiration selects two of the ladies who are dancing as its favorite objects.

One is a dark beauty in the prime of womanhood--the wife of First Lieutenant Crayford, of the _Wanderer_.

The other is a young girl, pale and delicate; dressed simply in white; with no ornament on her head but her own lovely brown hair.

This is Miss Clara Burnham--an orphan.
She is Mrs.Crayford's dearest friend, and she is to stay with Mrs.
Crayford during the lieutenant's absence in the Arctic regions.

She is now dancing, with the lieutenant himself for partner, and with Mrs.
Crayford and Captain Helding (commanding officer of the _Wanderer_) for vis-a-vis--in plain English, for opposite couple.
The conversation between Captain Helding and Mrs.Crayford, in one of the intervals of the dance, turns on Miss Burnham.