Page:Three speeds forward.djvu/93

 in rattling time, and even papa was thankful we hadn't brought the horses as we broke into the crowd of cars and carriages and four-in-hands that were seething in the place that had been set apart for them. It was said the Lampmans had invited eight hundred, but it looked more like eight thousand, when we struck that circus and bored our way through the crush to where we were told to park.

Of course, the ball itself was too wonderful for anything, and I never fully realized before what clothes could do for people. The change from business suits to cloth of gold and armor and velvet and lace and white satin, was astonishing; and as for the women, it only seemed to need powder and patches to make everyone of them a raving beauty. It made me feel badly, at first, just to find myself one of a crowd, for I had expected—Oh, well—thought that they'd fall dead at the sight of me; and it cost me a pang when they didn't. But after a while a few got excited about me, and the few swelled and swelled, and it all came out right.