She had so many partners that she had to split her dances . Her silver slippers seemed verily to dance of themselves and though they continued to pinch her toes and blister her heels that did not interfere with her enjoyment in the least . Ethel Reese gave her a bad ten minutes by beckoning her mysteriously out of the pavilion and whispering , with a Reese-like smirk , that her dress gaped behind and that there was a stain on the flounce . Rilla rushed miserably to the room in the lighthouse which was fitted up for a temporary ladies ' dressing-room , and discovered that the stain was merely a tiny grass smear and that the gap was equally tiny where a hook had pulled loose . Irene Howard fastened it up for her and gave her some over-sweet , condescending compliments . Rilla felt flattered by Irene 's condescension . She was an Upper Glen girl of nineteen who seemed to like the society of the younger girls -- spiteful friends said because she could queen it over them without rivalry . But Rilla thought Irene quite wonderful and loved her for her patronage . Irene was pretty and stylish ; she sang divinely and spent every winter in Charlottetown taking music lessons . She had an aunt in Montreal who sent her wonderful things to wear ; she was reported to have had a sad love affair -- nobody knew just what , but its very mystery allured . Rilla felt that Irene 's compliments crowned her evening . She ran gaily back to the pavilion and lingered for a moment in the glow of the lanterns at the entrance looking at the dancers . A momentary break in the whirling throng gave her a glimpse of Kenneth Ford standing at the other side . Rilla 's heart skipped a beat -- or , if that be a physiological impossibility , she thought it did . So he was here , after all . She had concluded he was not coming -- not that it mattered in the least . Would he see her ? Would he take any notice of her ? Of course , he would n't ask her to dance -- that could n't be hoped for . He thought her just a mere child .
He had called her `` Spider '' not three weeks ago when he had been at Ingleside one XXXXX .
Charlottetown Ford Howard Montreal Reese Rilla dressing-room evening flounce over-sweet