208 WYLDER'S H.4JVD Mrs. Crutchleigh stayed her step upon the stairs ab- ruptly, and turned, with a look of fierce surprise upon her lean, white-headed lord, arresting thereby the upward march of Corfe Crutchleigh, Esq. the hope of his house, who was pulling on his gloves, with-his eldest spinster sister on his lank arm. "There appears to be a concert going on; we came here to a ball. Had you not better enquire, Mr. Crutch- leigh; it would seem we have made a mistake?" Mrs. Crutchleigh was sensitive about the dignity of the family of Clay Manor; and her cheeks flushed above the rouge, and her eyes flashed severely. "That's singing — particularly loud singing: Either we have mistaken the night, or somebody has taken upon him to upset all the arrangements. You will be good enough to enquire whether there will be dancing to- night; I and Anastasia will remain in the cloak-room; and we'll all leave if you please, Mr. Crutchleigh, if this goes on." v The fact is, Mrs. Crutchleigh had got an inkling of this performance, and had affected to believe it impossible; and, detesting old Lady Chelford for sundry slights and small impertinences, was resolved not to be put down by presumption in that quarter. Old Lady Chelford sat in an arm-chair in the supper- room, where a considerable audience was collected. She had a splendid shawl or two about her, and a certain air of demi-toilette, which gave the Gylingden people to un- derstand that her ladyship did not look on this gala in the light of a real ball, but only as a sort of rustic imitation — curious, possibly amusing, and, like other rural sports, deserving of encouragement, for the sake of the people who made innocent holiday there. Mr. Page, the performer, was a plump young man,