he by muslin love no one and she strove to recall his face she could remember nothing but the cold merciless eyes that were like the blue but how ungrateful i am thought the girl and she checked the bitter flow of reproaches that rose in her mind two old ladies sat on the sofa under the window their white hair and white caps coming out very white upon the grey irish day and around the the young ladies and one of the miss and the girl in red yawned over novels longing that a man might come in � not with hope that he would interest them but because they were accustomed to think of all time as wasted that was not spent in talking to a man nor were they awakened from their languid hopes until olive came rushing into the room with a large envelope in her hand oh i see she said you have got a letter from what does she say i got one this morning from and bending her head olive whispered in s ear she says that is talking in of when i shall be a is that the letter p asked innocently no you silly this is a castle invitation the and the girl in red looked up ah is it for to night or to morrow said the utter for to morrow now i wonder if there will be one for me is it to dinner or to the dance to dinner by muslin ah really yes very lucky her eyes fell and her look was expressive of her deep disappointment a dance � yes but a dinner and a dance then she continued ah the castle treats us all very badly i am glad sometimes when i hear the land league it we come up here and spend all our money on dresses and we get nothing for it except two state balls and it is no compliment to ask us to them � they are obliged to but what do you think of my little coat it is this that keeps me warm and miss o held out her for the company to feel the texture for the last three weeks she had not failed on all occasions to call attention to this garment � had said it was lovely here she sighed � had left the hotel and i have a new dress coming home � it is all red � a cardinal silk � you know nothing but red suits me is the hall porter the invitations asked did he give you yours no ours was of course directed to mamma i found it in her room then perhaps did not finish the sentence and both sisters rolled up their work preparatory to going upstairs in during six weeks of the year the arrival of these large official is watched with eagerness these are the of and the land league and the of are and lost for a moment in an exquisite thrill of triumph or despair an j nt ri ah f n castle much the official who takes you down to dinner may by muslin bore you and at the dance you may find yourself without a partner but the delight of asking your friends if you may expect to meet them on such a night of telling them afterwards of your are the joys of and armed with their invitation the heavily over the and the who were only asked to the dance and what will the dinner be like mamma asked olive it will be very grand lord does things in very good style indeed and our names will be given in the papers but i don t think it will amuse you dear all the officials have to be asked � judges police officers etc you will probably go down with some old fellow of sixty but that can t be helped at the dance after we ll see the i told you mamma didn t i that wrote that everybody in said he was in love with me and had proposed v you did dear and it does no harm for the report to have got about for if a thing gets very much spoken of it forces a man to come to the point you will wear your red i don t know that you look better in anything else whatever mrs s faults may have been she did her duty as she conceived it by her daughter and during the long dinner through the leaves of the plants she watched her olive anxiously a hundred and twenty people were present mothers and eligible daughters judges lords police officers poor law in by t muslin and castle officials around the great white painted gold walls the table in the form of a was spread in the soothing light of the shaded lamps the white glitter of the piled up silver danced over the talking faces and descended in silvery waves into the of the women salmon and purple coloured passed quickly and in the fragrance of soup and the of in the pleasing of the waits tunes that band poured from a top gallery the goodly company of time and others forgot their fears of the land league and the doom that was now to fulness to the girls the dinner seemed interminable but at the private dance afterwards those who were known in official circles or were fortunate enough to meet their friends amused themselves it took place in the throne room as the guests arrived they each other narrowly people who had known each other from childhood upwards as they met on the landing affected a look of surprise oh so you are here i wonder how you got your invitation well i suppose you are better than i took you to be p acquaintances saluted each other more cordially than was their wont he or she who 