human
Oh, you needn't go back yet! said Tom.
gpt
I've nothing in the world to do.
human
Uncle Ezra thought I'd better go up to cousin Snow's in Revere Street. I'm afraid she'll be all through dinner, but never mind. They thought I'd better go there on mother's account; it's her cousin, but I never saw her, at least not since I can remember. They won't like it if I don't, you know; it wouldn't be very polite.
gpt
All right, assented Tom with dignity.
human
I'll take you there at once: perhaps we can catch a car or something.
gpt
I'm ashamed to ask for anything more when you've been so kind, said Nancy, after a few moments of anxious silence.
human
I don't know that you can think of any good chance, but I'd give a great deal if I could only go somewhere and see some pretty dancing. You know I'm always dreamin' and dreamin' about pretty dancing! and she looked eagerly at Tom to see what he would say.
gpt
It must be goin' on somewhere in Boston, she went on with pleading eyes.
human
Could you ask somebody? They said at uncle Ezra's that if cousin Abby Snow wanted me to remain until to-morrow it might be just as well to stay; she used to be so well acquainted with mother. And so I thought--I might get some nice chance to look on.
gpt
To see some dancing, repeated Tom, mindful of his own gay evening the night before, and of others to come, and the general impossibility of Nancy's finding the happiness she sought. He never had been so confronted by social barriers. As for Nancy's dancing at East Rodney, in the schoolhouse hall or in Jacob Parker's new barn, it had been one of the most ideal things he had ever known in his life; it would be hard to find elsewhere such grace as hers. In seaboard towns one often comes upon strange foreign inheritances, and the soul of a Spanish grandmother might still survive in Nancy, as far as her light feet were concerned. She danced like a flower in the wind. She made you feel light of foot yourself, as if you were whirling and blowing and waving through the air; as if you could go out dancing and dancing over the deep blue sea water of the bay, and find floor enough to touch and whirl upon. But Nancy had always seemed to take her gifts for granted; she had the simplicity of genius.
human
I can't say now, but I am sure to find out, said Tom Aldis definitely.
gpt
I'll try to make some sort of plan for you. I wish we could have another dance, ourselves.
human
Oh, not now, answered Nancy sensibly.
gpt
It's knowing 'most all the people that makes a party pleasant.
human
My aunt would have asked you to come to luncheon to-day, but she had to go out of town, and was afraid of not getting back in season. She would like to see you very much. You see, I'm only a bachelor in lodgings, this winter,
gpt
You've been just as good as you could be. I know all about Boston now, almost as if I lived here. I should like to see the inside of one of those big houses, she added softly;