Kate couldn't speak to Mrs. Wilson's feeling on the matter, but she was quite entranced by everything that was going on around her. Perhaps she just wasn't showing it as plainly as the energetic older woman; she was more quiet by nature, an observer. The hall was beautiful, though, and the women all looked quite beautiful to her, too — although she could hardly picture herself in anything so tight, particularly around the middle. English women must have been a good deal thinner than her, she thought, or else they were very good at using illusion magic to look thinner.

"It's all very grand," she said. "But I'm afraid I don't quite understand it all, yet. This is only my first English ball."