Summary of Her First Ball
In story, female character, Leila and her cousins were on the way to for ball dance. It is her visit to ball dance hall. As they were moving by cab (taxy) for ball dance, Leila feels very excited and imagines that she is with her partner inside the cab and compares the bolster (fauri) on which her hand relaxed felt like the sleeve of young man's. Her cousins, Sheridan (Irish) girls thought it would be so strange experience to Leila because she had never been to a ball f एक प्रकारको नाच), Leila was very excited about this new experience. Leila had learned to dance at boarding school but she was not familiar with ball dance.
They arrived at the drill hall where the ball dance would start. There were varieties lights and happy couples everywhere. Many girls had gone into the Ladies' room to decorate them with cosmetics items. It was crowded with young boys and girls as they were getting ready for the ball.
The dancing had not begun, and the hall was very noisy with people talking. Leila was amazed, and was glad that she had decided to come. Earlier in the afternoon, she hadn't wanted to come in the hall. The wonderful hall and the beautiful people made her breathless.
All the girls stood together on one side of the door, the men on the other side. Leila was then introduced to a lot of girls by her cousin Meg. The girls did not show much concern to talk to Leila because they were all looking towards the handsome men.
Suddenly, the men started walking across the floor. When they came up to the girls, the men's names were put down in the girls' programs. Several men put their names in Leila's program and one of them was an old and fat man. Then the music began and couples started dancing. Suddenly, a man came up to her and offered her his arm. Leila enjoyed dancing with him. The man asked if she had been to the ball last week. He was surprised when she told him it was her first ball dance.
Soon the music stopped, and then started again. Her second partner came along. He asked exactly the same questions as the last one. They danced for a while and then they went to have an ice in the supper room. When they came back, the older fat man was waiting for her to dance with her. When the old man and Leila were dancing, he revealed her that he had been to balls for thirty years. That was twelve years before Leila was born. He said that in one day soon, Leila would be one of the mothers in the hall, she would be fat, and talk to elderly lady next to her about awful men who would try to kiss her daughter, and she would be sad because no one would kiss her any more. This made Leila feel bad. It sounded as though it could be. At that point, the music started to sound sad. How quickly her happiness had changed, she didn't want to dance anymore, she only wanted to stand still by the wall. Later, the old man said that he was only joking but Leila was still sad.
Then the music started again. But Leila didn't want to dance. She just wanted to go home. In the mean time, the music started to play. The music was soft and beautiful and in front of her, a young man with curly hair bowed to dance with her. They walked onto the dance floor. Then, in only a minute, she again felt the magic of the ball. Then she felt everything of ball beautiful. While dancing, when she bumped into the fat man on the dance floor, she even didn't recognize him.