The Step on the Stair by Anna Katharine Green

Whether I was not over and above eager to attend this ball or whether I was really the victim of several mischances which delayed me over more than one train, I did not arrive in C -- -- till the entertainment at Quenton Court was in full swing. This I knew from the animation observable in the streets leading to my uncle's home, and in the music I heard as I entered the gate which, for no reason good enough to mention, I had approached on foot.

But though fond of dancing and quite used to scenes of this nature, I felt little or no chagrin over the hour or two of pleasure thus lost. The night was long and I should probably see all, if not too much, of a celebration in which I seemed likely to play an altogether secondary part. Which shows how little we know of what really confronts us; upon what thresholds we stand, -- or to use another simile, -- how sudden may be the tide which slips us from our moorings.