The key was that she couldn't tell which of the twenty masked men opposite her was Connor Osborne.
Because when she looked through the eye holes of the mask, all the men looked exactly the same, except for two who were slightly shorter; the rest might as well have been clones of a single person.
Up above, a drumbeat sounded on the stage, signaling the start of the ball. Gentlemen began to approach, and Scarlett Zimmerman was quickly whisked away to dance by one of them.
She couldn't speak, and she couldn't see the other person's face. She didn't know who it was, and as they danced, partners were swapped. She had no idea who her second partner was either.
The partners changed quickly, approximately one new partner for each song. After three songs, a couple began to embrace and leave. After four songs, another couple did the same.
Five songs, six songs... Gradually, more and more people left arm in arm. Bit by bit, the scene of the ball was left with less than a half of the crowd.
