The heavy perfume of rare blossoms, the wild strains of mad music, the patter of flying feet, the murmur1 of speech, the ring of laughter, filled the great hall. Now and again a pair of dancers, peculiarly graceful2 and particularly daring, held the center of the floor for a moment while the room rang with applause.
Into alcoves4, screened and flower-decked, couples wandered. In the dancing-space hands were clasped, bosoms5 rose and fell, hearts throbbed6, pulses beat, and moving bodies kept time to rhythmic7 sound.
Suddenly the music stopped, the conversation ceased, the laughter died away. Almost, as it were, poised8 in the air, the dancers stood amazed. One looked to another in surprise. Something stole throughout the room which was neither music, nor lights, nor fragrance9, but which was life—a presence!
"Do you see that child?" asked the wildest of the dancers of her escort. "There," she pointed10. "He looks like a very little boy."
"I see nothing," said the man, who still held her in the clasp of his arm.
"He is strangely dressed, although I see him indistinctly, vaguely," whispered the woman. "He wears a long white robe and there is a kind of light about his face. See, he is looking at us."
"I see nothing," repeated the man in low tones. "The heat, the light, the music, have disturbed you; let me get you—"
"I want nothing," interposed the woman, waving the man aside and drawing away from his arm. "Don't you see him, there?"
She made a step toward the center of the room. She stopped, put her hand to her head.
"Why, he is gone," she exclaimed.
"Good," said the man, while at that instant the room suddenly rang with cries: "Go on with the music, the dance is not half over." He extended his arm to the woman again. "Our dance is not finished."
"Yes, it is," she said as the flying feet once more twinkled across the polished floor, as everybody took a long breath and a new start apparently11 unconscious of the pause.
"It is over for me. What I saw!"
"What did you see?"
"I don't know, but I'm going back home to my child. Good-night."
Yes, the music had stopped suddenly. The man in the farthest alcove3 turned to his companion. They were hidden by a group of palms.
"I wonder why?" queried12 the woman. She was deathly pale. Her eyes were dark with fear, yet alight with passionate13 determination.
"When it begins," said the man tenderly, "we will slip away. My car is outside. Everything is ready."
"That is my husband over there," said the woman.
"Yes," said the man, "he won't trouble you any more."
"That woman with him is leaving him," she said. "I wonder why." She turned suddenly with a great start. "There is somebody here," she whispered, staring into the back of the alcove.
"Nonsense," said the man, throwing a glance around the recess14. "There's nobody here but you and I. We are alone together, as we shall be hereafter, when we have taken the step."
"But that child," whispered the woman, "with his strange vesture and his wonderful face. His eyes look at me so."
"There is no child there, my dear," urged the man; "you are overwrought, excited, nervous. The music starts. Let us go."
He stretched out his hand to the woman, but as he came nearer she shrank back with her own hand on her heart.
"Oh," she said faintly, "he's gone."
"Of course he's gone," he answered soothingly15. "Now is our time to get away. Let me—"
"No, no," said the woman. "I can't go with you now. It wouldn't be right."
"But you knew that before," pleaded the man. "Besides—"
"Yes, but I can't do it. He was there! His eyes spoke—I—don't touch me," she said; "I'm going back to my husband. Don't follow."
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1
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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2
graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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3
alcove
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| n.凹室 | |
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4
alcoves
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| n.凹室( alcove的名词复数 )；（花园）凉亭；僻静处；壁龛 | |
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5
bosoms
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| 胸部( bosom的名词复数 )； 胸怀； 女衣胸部（或胸襟）； 和爱护自己的人在一起的情形 | |
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6
throbbed
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| 抽痛( throb的过去式和过去分词 )； （心脏、脉搏等）跳动 | |
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7
rhythmic
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| adj.有节奏的，有韵律的 | |
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8
poised
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| a.摆好姿势不动的 | |
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9
fragrance
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| n.芬芳，香味，香气 | |
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10
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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11
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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12
queried
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| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
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13
passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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14
recess
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| n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处） | |
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15
soothingly
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| adv.抚慰地，安慰地；镇痛地 | |
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