and one link of the chain

"Now for the great round dance!" Hewet shouted. Instantly a giganticcircle was formed, the dancers holding hands and shouting out,"D'you ken John Peel," as they swung faster and faster and faster,until the strain was too great, and one link of the chain--Mrs. Thornbury--gave way, and the rest went flying across the roomin all directions, to land upon the floor or the chairs or in eachother's arms as seemed most convenient. 　　Rising from these positions, breathless and unkempt, it struckthem for the first time that the electric lights pricked the airvery vainly, and instinctively a great many eyes turned tothe windows. Yes--there was the dawn. While they had been dancingthe night had passed, and it had come. Outside, the mountainsshowed very pure and remote; the dew was sparkling on the grass,and the sky was flushed with blue, save for the pale yellowsand pinks in the East. The dancers came crowding to the windows,pushed them open, and here and there ventured a foot upon the grass. 　　"How silly the poor old lights look!" said Evelyn M. in a curiouslysubdued tone of voice. "And ourselves; it isn't becoming."It was true; the untidy hair, and the green and yellow gems, which hadseemed so festive half an hour ago, now looked cheap and slovenly. 　　The complexions of the elder ladies suffered terribly, and, as ifconscious that a cold eye had been turned upon them, they beganto say good-night and to make their way up to bed. 　　Rachel, though robbed of her audience, had gone on playing to herself. 　　From John Peel she passed to Bach, who was at this time the subjectof her intense enthusiasm, and one by one some of the younger dancerscame in from the garden and sat upon the deserted gilt chairs roundthe piano, the room being now so clear that they turned out the lights. 　　As they sat and listened, their nerves were quieted; the heat andsoreness of their lips, the result of incessant talking and laughing,was smoothed away. They sat very still as if they saw a building withspaces and columns succeeding each other rising in the empty space.