Two days after this decision, Peter and Leonore went to a cotillion.
Leonore informed him that: "Mamma makes me leave after supper, because
she doesn't like me to stay late, so I miss the nice part."
"How many waltzes are you going to give me?" asked Peter, with an eye to
his one ball-room accomplishment.
"I'll give you the first," said Leonore, "and then if you'll sit near
me, I'll give you a look every time I see a man coming whom I don't
like, and if you are quick and ask me first, I'll give it to you."
Peter became absolutely happy. "How glad I am," he thought, "that I
didn't go to Syracuse! What a shame it is there are other dances than
waltzes."
But after Peter had had two waltzes, he overheard his aged friend of
fifteen years say something to a girl that raised him many degrees in
his mind. "That's a very brainy fellow," said Peter admiringly. "That
never occurred to me!"
So he waited till he saw Leonore seated, and then joined her. "Won't
you sit out this dance with me?" he asked.
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