DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62133#0212
196
AN ART-STUDENT IN MUNICH.
And now, from the concealed orchestra, sounded the first
note of the polonaise, and the gentlemen hastened
towards their partners, and all solemnly paraded, in stately
procession, through the ball-room; and now burst forth a
waltz, and away flew the dancers. It really was very tan-
talising to hear that beautiful music, and to see those
dancers ; and to be up in that hot and close gallery, in a
merino dress and overshoes ! There was a painful contrast!
Tor the first few moments I declared to Myra, that, spite
of all my philosophy, which had made me decline an invi-
tation to this very ball, I now wished I had been there, and
that I must and would go to the next, if it were only for
the sake of old times ! But soon after came a Franqaise,
or, as we call it, a quadrille; and then another waltz, and
then a polka, and then a Frauqaise again; and, by that
time, I began to feel that if to look on at a ball was at first
tantalising, it became, after a while, very wearisome—“ the
greatest bore under the sun !” as I remember to have heard
certain unhappy victims, who did not dance, declare—but
which assertion I, at the time, did not appreciate.
But soon a pleasant excitement arrived for us. Myra’s
mother, and her sister Ida, entered the ball-room. They
came aristocratically late. How handsome they looked !
Frau Amsel in black, with scarlet flowers in her hair; and
Ida looking a very Hebe, in simple white muslin, with a
scarlet sash and scarlet bows on her sleeves, and nothing
whatever in her hair. She was the simplest, and, to my
taste, the most elegantly-dressed girl in the room. Her
beautiful head, with its rich, dark hair, looked quite con-
spicuous, from the entire absence of all artificial ornament.
Standing there in the gallery, in my winter dress and over-
shoes, I felt really proud of them. They created quite a
sensation as they entered; and as Ida stood beside an
orange-tree on the platform, with all her simple beauty, in
her white dress and scarlet ribbons, and with her beaming,
AN ART-STUDENT IN MUNICH.
And now, from the concealed orchestra, sounded the first
note of the polonaise, and the gentlemen hastened
towards their partners, and all solemnly paraded, in stately
procession, through the ball-room; and now burst forth a
waltz, and away flew the dancers. It really was very tan-
talising to hear that beautiful music, and to see those
dancers ; and to be up in that hot and close gallery, in a
merino dress and overshoes ! There was a painful contrast!
Tor the first few moments I declared to Myra, that, spite
of all my philosophy, which had made me decline an invi-
tation to this very ball, I now wished I had been there, and
that I must and would go to the next, if it were only for
the sake of old times ! But soon after came a Franqaise,
or, as we call it, a quadrille; and then another waltz, and
then a polka, and then a Frauqaise again; and, by that
time, I began to feel that if to look on at a ball was at first
tantalising, it became, after a while, very wearisome—“ the
greatest bore under the sun !” as I remember to have heard
certain unhappy victims, who did not dance, declare—but
which assertion I, at the time, did not appreciate.
But soon a pleasant excitement arrived for us. Myra’s
mother, and her sister Ida, entered the ball-room. They
came aristocratically late. How handsome they looked !
Frau Amsel in black, with scarlet flowers in her hair; and
Ida looking a very Hebe, in simple white muslin, with a
scarlet sash and scarlet bows on her sleeves, and nothing
whatever in her hair. She was the simplest, and, to my
taste, the most elegantly-dressed girl in the room. Her
beautiful head, with its rich, dark hair, looked quite con-
spicuous, from the entire absence of all artificial ornament.
Standing there in the gallery, in my winter dress and over-
shoes, I felt really proud of them. They created quite a
sensation as they entered; and as Ida stood beside an
orange-tree on the platform, with all her simple beauty, in
her white dress and scarlet ribbons, and with her beaming,