'He is in charge of the town's soldiers,' said the stranger, in reply to Mr Tupman's inquiring look.

Miss Bulder was welcomed by the young Clubber sisters and the greeting between Mrs. Colonel Bulder and Lady Clubber was as friendly as it could possibly be. Colonel Bulder and Sir Thomas Clubber stood together looking like two kings of the town.

While the aristocracy of the town - the Bulders, and Clubbers, and Snipes - were busy being important at the top end of the room, the other people of the town were doing the same thing elsewhere. The less important officers of the 97th regiment spent their time talking to the families of the less important people from the dockyard. The lawyer's wife, and the wine-seller's wife were the leaders of another level of society (the beer maker's wife was with the Bulders, since her husband's job was more important).

Everyone seemed to have agreed that Mrs. Tomlinson, from the post-office, should be the leader of the shopkeepers.

One of the most popular people at the ball, was a little fat man, whose black hair stood up straight on his head making a ring around a large bald patch in the middle. This was Doctor Slammer, the doctor of the 97th regiment. The doctor talked with everybody, laughed, danced, made jokes, played cards, did everything, and was everywhere.