Page:Poor Cecco - 1925.djvu/112

98, and then the babies of the party were all put to bed, not without some trouble, in an adjoining closet, and while the old folks settled themselves in a corner the dancing began.

Uncle Billie Skunk played the fiddle, and old Ezra Bunny the concertina. Old Ezra wore a white shirtfront and a brown coat, rather untidy in the seams, and he had long yellow teeth that showed whenever he smiled. He had played for so many kitchen dances that he could call out the figures with his eyes shut. He waved the concertina over his head and stamped with his foot whenever it was time for the music to change.

“First couples forward!” he called out. “Ladies in the middle! Swing your partners!” And while he stamped and shouted Uncle Billie Skunk, all in black, looked very solemn as he bent over his fiddle, but was really winking at the dancers all the time.

“It’s a lovely party!” Jensina whispered to Poor Cecco as they whirled round the floor. “I’m so glad we stayed!”

Jensina, in her gingham frock, and wearing the blue beads which Bulka had lent her for the evening, was very much admired and enjoyed herself thoroughly. It quite made up, in fact, for her disappointment of the night before. Among these simple people she found herself quite at ease, and behaved accordingly. She danced gypsy dances, sang songs and told fortunes, and in the intervals of the music had always a little group about her. Indeed,