So many people had been invited to the Cavendish ball that there was
scarce room to dance. Myra caught sight of Don Carlos several times,
and her heart beat a trifle fast when at last she saw him making his
way through the crowd towards her during an interval.
"May I have the pleasure and honour of dancing the next with you, Miss
Rostrevor?" he inquired, with his usual courtly bow. "The floor is
becoming less crowded now the news has gone round that supper is being
served."
Myra's first impulse was to snub him, but she refrained, rose without a
word as the music re-started, and they glided round together to the
lilting refrain of the band. Both were extremely graceful and
accomplished dancers, and several other couples ceased dancing to watch
them, giving them the centre of the floor.
"Are you afraid to look at me, cara mia?" whispered Don Carlos, after a
few minutes. "I want to look deep into your dear blue eyes and try to
read what is in your heart."
"I am afraid the result would be a shock to your overweening vanity,
Don Carlos," responded Myra coldly, still avoiding his eyes. "I am
very angry with you, and I am surprised you should have had the
audacity to ask me to dance with you before even attempting to offer
any apology for your outrageous behaviour of this afternoon."
"Dear, darling, delicious, delectable lady, why should I apologise for
taking up your challenge and redeeming my promise?" Don Carlos asked.
"Why profess to be offended with the man who loves you so passionately
for taking a few of the kisses for which he was craving and hungering?
What is it your great Shakespeare wrote that fits our case? ... Ah! I
have it! ..."
He sang the words softly, fitting them to the rhythm of the air the
dance-band was playing: "'A thousand kisses buys my heart from me;
And pay them at your leisure, one by one.
What are ten hundred touches unto thee?
Are they not quickly told and quickly gone?
Say for non-payment that the debt should double;
Is twenty hundred kisses such a trouble?'"
"Oh, you are an utterly outrageous and impossible man!" exclaimed Myra,
half-annoyed, half-amused, and at heart a little fascinated withal.
"Even if I did flirt with you at Auchinleven to amuse myself, you had
no right to take my teasing seriously--you, who are such an experienced
flirt and philanderer, and who do not expect women to take your
love-making seriously and laugh at them if they do."