Page:The Star in the Window.pdf/92

82 she whispered, and if Miss Bartholomew had been there she would have seen the same Joan-of-Arc expression on Reba's face that she had worn when she had jumped off the diving-board, as she opened the door and went out into the hall.

She felt reassured the moment she got downstairs. There seemed to be little uniformity of costume. Miss Park, her idol, Miss Katherine Park herself, was in simple white net. Some of the young ladies wore shirt-waists and dark skirts.

The young men had already arrived. A large dark phalanx of them occupied one corner of the Assembly-hall. Miss Park was on the platform, when Reba entered, greeting the assembly in that full vibrant voice of hers. She was smiling and flushed, perfectly poised. After her pretty "good evening" she explained the course of procedure for obtaining partners.

Upon entering the hall everybody had been presented with a colored piece of card-board with a number on it. (Reba had hers safe in her hand—a red 33.) There were four colors—yellow, green, red, and blue, and two numbers of each color. The two people whose cards corresponded in color and number were partners. To facilitate matters, all those with red cards were asked to go to that corner of the room in which had been hung a red streamer; all those with green cards, to the corner of the room with the green streamer, and so on. After everybody had found his or her partner, then Miss Park would announce in what order the four groups might dance. The hall was too small to accommodate everybody at once.

"Now," she finished, "please all go to your proper corners, and find your partners."