fle and extended her foot, showing her slipper,
which was really covered with pearly drops of rain. Octave threw himself
quickly upon his knees, and, taking a silk handkerchief from his pocket,
began to wipe away all traces of the storm. His action was so rapid that
Madame de Bergenheim stood for a moment motionless and speechless, but
when she felt her foot imprisoned in the hand of the man who had just
declared war against her, her surprise gave place to a mingled feeling of
impatience and anger. She drew her foot back with a sudden movement, but
unfortunately the foot went one way and the slipper another. A
fencing-master, who sees his foil carried ten steps away from him by a
back stroke, could not feel more astonishment than that felt by Madame de
Bergenheim. Her first movement was to place her foot, so singularly
undressed, upon the ground; an instinctive horror of the damp, muddy walk
made her draw it quickly back. She stood thus with one foot lifted; the
movement which she had started to make threw her off her balance and as
she was about to fall she extended her hand to find some support. This
support proved to be Octave's head, for he still remained upon his knees.
With the usual presumption of lovers, he believed that he had the right
to give her the assistance which she seemed to ask for, and passed his
arm about the slender waist which was bent toward him.

Clemence drew herself up at once, and with frowning brow regained her
coolness, standing upright upon one foot, like Cupid in the painting by
Gerard; like him, also, she seemed about to fly away, there was so much
airy lightness in her improvised attitude.

Many puerile incidents and ridiculous events occur in life, which it
would render impossible for the most imperturbable of mandarins to
struggle against in order to preserve his gravity. When Louis XIV, this
king so expert in courtly ways, dressed his hair alone behind his
curtains before presenting himself to the eyes of his courtiers, he
feared that this disarray of costume might compromise even his royal
majesty. So, upon such authority, if one looks upon a complete head of
hair as indispensable to the dignity of manhood, the same reasoning
should exist for the covering of one's feet. In less than a second,
Madame de Bergenheim comprehended that in such circumstances prudish airs
would fail of their effect. Meanwhile, the agreeable side of her position
operated within her; she felt unable to keep u