Moved by common impulse, the members of a past generation rose, and took their places.  Old Van Quintem, temporarily forgetting his rheumatism, led off, escorting Mrs. Crull.  The bachelor Bank President took charge of a widow, in whose breast he had revived feelings that flourished twenty years before.  The retired merchants brought each other’s wives upon the floor.  Even Uncle Ith came out from his seclusion in a corner, where he had been listening to the sound of his own fire bell, rung by other hands that night, and felt that here, at least, he should make no blunders.  The tall, talkative lady, from whom there seemed to be no escape, had fastened on him as a partner.  The good clergyman was the only old or middle-aged gentleman who did not take his place in the set, and he looked on and laughed.

The dance commenced, slow at first, then gradually faster.  The younger people, when they came to understand the simple movement, fell into the chain couple after couple, until it extended into the hallway, and through it into the parlors again.  Everybody was drawn in now, old and young, married and unmarried, the minister and his wife only excepted, and they marked the measure with their heels.  Round and round, and faster and faster, went the chain, with its constantly changing links.  The musicians, playing the same strains over and over again, became frenzied by the repetition, and doubled the time without knowing it.  Legs that had entered slow and stately upon the interminable maze, became, without the knowledge or consent of their owners, nimble and gymnastics.

It was a delightful peculiarity of this wonderful dance, that couples could withdraw without breaking up the figure.  The bride and groom, acting upon this privilege, slipped out of the flying circle, and sought, unaccompanied, the solitude of the vine-covered piazza behind the house, there to commune for a moment upon their new-found happiness.

* * * * *

The night was calm.  A faint breeze from the south stirred up secret odors in the hearts of dew-covered flowers, and musically sighed through the leaves and vines.  The heavens were dark, but unclouded; and, as the lips of the lovers met in one clinging kiss, the host of stars beamed down upon them, and proclaimed an ETERNITY OF LOVE.

CHAPTER IV.

FIVE YEARS.

Five years are an eventful space in the history of blocks, as of men.  Within that period, they may be burnt down, blown down, or torn down to make room for grander blocks.  In quick-growing American cities, the average life of blocks is less than that of the human generation that tenants them.  First wood, then brick, then brownstone or marble—­these are the successive forms of block life, before anything like stability is reached.  Marble is the only real type of the permanent in American architecture.  Nobody pulls down marble.