How is the theme loss of innocence conveyed in the story"Her First Ball"?"Her First Ball" by Katherine Mansfield.

Katherine Mansfield's "Her First Ball" presents an ingenue
from the outback who is completely thrilled to be attending her first formal dance.  As
she "floated away like a flower tossed into a pool," as she dances with a handsome young
man.  Indeed, the newness and excitement surrounding this event is absolutely
"thrilling" to Leila.  In fact, Leila perceives it as

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the beginning of everything.  It seemed to her
that she had never known what the night was like before.  Up till now it had been dark,
silent, beautiful often--oh, yes--but mournful somehow. Solemn.  And, now it would never
be like that again--it had opened dazzling
bright.

Innocently sensing
her growing adulthood and her youthful beauty, Leila is particularly vulnerable to the
words of the cynical  man who then cuts in to dance with
her. 

It gave
her quite a shock again to see how old he was; he ought to have been on the stage with
the fathers and mothers. And when Leila compared him with her other partners he looked
shabby. His waistcoat was creased, there was a button off his glove, his coat looked as
if it was dusty with French
chalk.

This cynical agent of
harsh reality recognizes that is Leila's first ball, and depletes her elation by
pointing to the old ladies on the stage who sit and watch the young people.  He tells
Leila,

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"...long before that you'll be sitting up there
on the stage, looking on, in your nice black velvet. And these pretty arms will have
turned into little short fat ones, and you'll beat time with such a different kind of
fan–a black bony
one."

Further, he tells Leila
that she will then point to her daughter and "your heart will ache, ache....because no
one wants to kiss you now."  His cruel words alter Leila's perception; she
worries,

Was
this first ball only the beginning of her last ball, after all? At that the music seemed
to change; it sounded sad, sad; it rose upon a great sigh. Oh, how quickly things
changed! Why didn't happiness last for ever? For ever wasn't a bit too
long.

Leila then tells him
that she wishes to stop and rest.  Going over to the wall, she leans against it, pulls
up her gloves, and tries to smile as she yet keeps time to the music.  However,
internally she is chagrined,

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But deep inside her a little girl threw her
pinafore over her head and sobbed. Why had he spoiled it
all?

However, when the old,
fat man comes over and says, "...you mustn't take me seriously," Leila responds
defiantly, "As if I should!"  Soon a "ravishing" tune begins and a handsome young man
asks her to dance.  And, when her next partner accidentally bumps them into the old man
and he says "Pardon," Leila refuses to acknowledge his
presence.

Through dialogue and internal monologue,
Katherine Manfield conveys her theme of loss of innocence.  However, it is the
determined spirit of Leila who rejects the old man's observations, choosing
instead carpe diem; for, tenaciously she seizes the moment and
delights solely in its magic.