Sentence:  The time was morning; the young lady was not fifteen; her spirits were as the spirits of a fawn in May; her "tour" of duty for the day was either not come, or was gone; and, finding herself alone in a spacious room, what more reasonable thing could she do than amuse herself with "making <WSD>cheeses</WSD>?" that is, whirling round, according to a fashion practised by young ladies both in France and England, and pirouetting until the petticoat is inflated like a balloon, and then sinking into a courtesy. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A low curtsey; so called on account of the cheese shape assumed by a woman's dress when she stoops after extending the skirts by a rapid gyration.