"Oh, no, I should be very glad to dance with any one."
"For how many balls will you retain so much humility?" said Major Clare,
laughing. "Let me take advantage of it while it lasts, and ask for two
dances."
Kate assented, but she looked a little uncomfortable, and as a general
move towards the lawn-tennis ground enabled her to speak to him apart,
she said,--
"Major Clare, I did not mean to _ask_ you to ask me to dance just now."
Major Clare looked at her with a slight air of amusement. "What has
made you think of that?" he said.
"Well, I think Emberance looked at me," said the candid Kate.
"I should not have thought your cousin's eyes so formidable."
Something was added about the charm of simplicity, which Katharine was
not quite sure whether she liked or not; but, enough consciousness was
awakened to add a touch of excitement to her preparations for her first
ball.