Meantime every one had learned the strange dance-tune by heart, which
our friend whistled for us, whereby we could tell it had come down from
remote times. Indeed, it was said that these rejoicings were originally
in memory of the victory of the great Michael over the Devil, and no one
thought of suggesting a more modern theory than that the "Flurry" was a
survival of the Floralia observed by the Romans on the fourth of the
Calends of May in honour of Flora, the Goddess of Flowers.
The very mention of the names of band and hornpipe was too much for my
brother, who could not resist giving the Cornishman a few samples of the
single and double shuffle in the College Hornpipe, and one or two
movements from a Scotch Reel, but as I was no dancer myself, I had no
means of judging the quality of his performances. I kept a respectful
distance away, as sometimes his movements were very erratic, and his
boots, like those of the Emperor Frederick, were rather heavy. We could
not persuade our friend to come with us a yard farther than the village.
As a fellow bandsman, he confided the reason why to my brother; he had
seen a nice young lady at the "Flurry" who came from that village, and
he was going to see her now.
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