It came to a halt, so abruptly that Bessie was left gasping in shock as her feet stilled and the music died away. She required fully half a minute to collect herself enough to look about her and determine the source of the disruption, for such a delicious, terpsichorean frenzy could not have come to such a cease by itself.
She noticed, firstly, that changes had been wrought to the ballroom during the course of the dancing. The ceilings, previously bare of adornment, were now hung with trailing vines sprouting ethereal, pallid leaves, and flowers paler still. But these, in fact, were not hung there at all; they grew there, winding their way over the expanse of plaster in a fashion oddly possessive. Moths and butterflies in jewelled colours flitted lazily among them, and some had drifted do
