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I do not know whether it was Edward's own ambition or his proud
father's wishes that had led him to attend the Hamley assemblies. I
should conjecture the latter, for Edward had of himself too much good
taste to wish to intrude into any society. In the opinion of all the
shire, no society had more reason to consider itself select than that
which met at every full moon in the Hamley assembly-room, an
excrescence built on to the principal inn in the town by the joint
subscription of all the county families. Into those choice and
mysterious precincts no towns person was ever allowed to enter; no
professional man might set his foot therein; no infantry officer saw
the interior of that ball, or that card-room. The old original
subscribers would fain have had a man prove his sixteen quarterings
before he might make his bow to the queen of the night; but the old
original founders of the Hamley assemblies were dropping off; minuets
had vanished with them, country dances had died away; quadrilles were
in high vogue--nay, one or two of the high magnates of --shire were
trying to introduce waltzing, as they had seen it in London, where it
had come in with the visit of the allied sovereigns, when Edward
Wilkins made his debut on these boards. He had been at many splendid
assemblies abroad, but still the little old ballroom attached to the
George Inn in his native town was to him a place grander and more
awful than the most magnificent saloons he had seen in Paris or Rome.
He laughed at himself for this unreasonable feeling of awe; but there
it was notwithstanding. He had been dining at the house of one of
the lesser gentry, who was under considerable obligations to his
father, and who was the parent of eight "muckle-mou'ed" daughters, so
hardly likely to oppose much aristocratic resistance to the elder Mr.
Wilkins's clearly implied wish that Edward should be presented at the
Hamley assembly-rooms. But many a squire glowered and looked black
at the introduction of Wilkins the attorney's son into the sacred
precincts; and perhaps there would have been much more mortification
than pleasure in this assembly to the young man, had it not been for
an incident that occurred pretty late in the evening. The lord-lieutenant
of the county usually came with a large party to the
Hamley assemblies once in a season; and this night he was expected,
and with him a fashionable duchess and her daughters. But time wore
on, and they did not make their appearance. At last there was a
rustling and a bustling, and in sailed the superb party. For a few
minutes dancing was stopped; the earl led the duchess to a sofa; some
of their acquaintances came up to speak to them; and then the
quadrilles were finished in rather a flat manner. A country dance
followed, in which none of the lord-lieutenant's party joined; then
there was a consultation, a request, an inspection of the dancers, a
message to the orchestra, and the band struck up a waltz; the
duchess's daughters flew off to the music, and some more young ladies
seemed ready to follow, but, alas! there was a lack of gentlemen
acquainted with the new-fashioned dance. One of the stewards
bethought him of young Wilkins, only just returned from the
Continent. Edward was a beautiful dancer, and waltzed to admiration.
For his next partner he had one of the Lady --s; for the duchess, to
whom the--shire squires and their little county politics and
contempts were alike unknown, saw no reason why her lovely Lady Sophy
should not have a good partner, whatever his pedigree might be, and
begged the stewards to introduce Mr. Wilkins to her. After this
night his fortune was made with the young ladies of the Hamley
assemblies. He was not unpopular with the mammas; but the heavy
squires still looked at him askance, and the heirs (whom he had
licked at Eton) called him an upstart behind his back.
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