lace of the great drawing-room of Gondreville's mansion. The
questions and answers of this very ordinary ballroom gossip had been
almost whispered by each of the speakers into his neighbor's ear. At the
same time, the chandeliers and the flambeaux on the chimney-shelf shed
such a flood of light on the two friends that their faces, strongly
illuminated, failed, in spite of their diplomatic discretion, to conceal
the faint expression of their feelings either from the keen-sighted
countess or the artless stranger. This espionage of people's thoughts is
perhaps to idle persons one of the pleasures they find in society, while
numbers of disappointed numskulls are bored there without daring to own
it.

Fully to appreciate the interest of this conversation, it is necessary
to relate an incident which would presently serve as an invisible bond,
drawing together the actors in this little drama, who were at present
scattered through the rooms.

At about eleven o'clock, just as the dancers were returning to their
seats, the company had observed the entrance of the handsomest woman in
Paris, the queen of fashion, the only person wanting to the brilliant
assembly. She made it a rule never to appear till the moment when a
party had reached that pitch of excited movement which does not allow
the women to preserve much longer the freshness of their faces or of
their dress. This brief hour is, as it were, the springtime of a ball.
An hour after, when pleasure falls flat and fatigue is encroaching,
everything is spoilt. Madame de Vaudremont never committed the blunder
of remaining at a party to be seen with drooping flowers, hair out
of curl, tumbled frills, and a face like every other that sleep is
courting--not always without success. She took good care not to let her
beauty be seen drowsy, as her rivals did; she was so clever as to
keep up her reputation for smartness by always leaving a ballroom in
brilliant order, as she had entered it. Women whispered to each other
with a feeling of envy that she planned and wore as many different
dresses as the parties she went to in one evening.

On the present occasion Madame de Vaudremont was not destined to be free
to leave when she would the ballroom she had entered in triumph. Pausing
for a moment on the threshold, she shot swift but observant glances on
the women present, hastily scrutinizing their dresses to assure herself
that her own eclipsed them all.

The illustrious beauty pre