Peter, who had constituted himself master of ceremonies for the fun in low life which was going on in the kitchen, darted up to Betty as she stood talking with Philip Livingston.

“They’re just going to begin to dance,” he said.  “Miranda is perked out in a wonderful pink gown, and Aunt Dinah has her best turban on her head.  Do, Betty, persuade some of the company to come out and see the negroes dance.  Don’t you hear the music beginning?”

Surely enough the distant scraping of the violin could be heard, and Betty, seizing Kitty by the hand, tripped up to Clarissa and repeated Peter’s request.  Clarissa hesitated an instant.

“Oh, Gulian,” cried Betty, catching hold of her brother-in-law as he came forward, “may we not visit the kitchen and see the servants dance?  Captain Yorke tells me that is what is done in England on Christmas Eve, and I am sure it would afford us all a new amusement.”

Artful Betty!  She knew full well that any suggestion of England and English ways would appeal to Gulian, and Yorke, who followed closely at her side, threw the potent weight of his opinion in the scale by saying quietly:—­

“I am told your slaves have the very poetry of motion, Verplanck; permit me to escort Mistress Betty to the servants’ hall.”

“Servants’ hall!” whispered Betty mischievously to Yorke as Gulian led the way with Clarissa; “we have nothing so fine in our humble colonies, sir; our kitchens must serve for our dusky retainers.”

“You know I did not mean”—­he began reproachfully.  But seeing Betty’s laughing eyes, he added, with a smile:—­

“Nay, you shall not tease me into vexing you to-night if I can avoid it; I will strive to train my tongue to please you.”

The kitchen presented a quaint and most picturesque appearance.  It was a low, wide room, and around the wall ran shelves and dressers, on which the pewter plates and copper covers shone with such fine polish that one could almost see in their surfaces as in a mirror.  Between those hung bunches of herbs and strings of bright-hued peppers, and in and out on the walls, and above, from the rafters, were Christmas greens, all arranged by the servants themselves, with that unerring eye for grace and color which is an attribute of the colored race.  Aunt Dinah, the presiding genius of the kitchen, stood at one end of the room.  Her large and portly person was clothed in a gay cotton print of many colors; and upon her head was twisted a bright silk handkerchief, with a most rakish-looking bow which reposed over her left ear.  The Verplanck slaves, some twelve of them, were augmented in numbers by those of the Ludlow, De Lancey, and De Peyster families, and half filled the spacious kitchen us they stood back in rows, courtesying and bowing, showing their white teeth in smiles and low laughter, as they recognized some “young massa,” or “ole madam” among the gentlemen and dames who smiled back upon their faithful, kindly faces.