and silken whiteness. The gloves of madame are white silk,
and so also, as she is not reluctant to advise, are her stockings,
picked out with pink and silver clocks. Her shoes, made by the
celebrated _cordonnier_, Raveneau, show heels three inches in height. As
madame enters she casts aside the camlet coat which has covered her
costume. She sweeps back the veil, endangering its confining clasp of
plumes. Madame makes a deliberate and open inspection of her face in her
little looking-glass to discover whether her _mouches_ are well placed.
She carefully arranges the patch upon the middle of her cheek. She would
be "gallant" to-night, would lay aside things _spirituelle_. She twirls
carelessly her fan, a creation of ivory and mother of pearl, elaborately
carved, tipped with gold and silver and set with precious stones.

Close at the elbow of Madame de Tencin steps a figure of different type,
a woman not accustomed to please by brilliance of mind or vivacity of
speech, but by sheer femininity of face and form. Tall, slender, yet
with figure divinely proportioned, this beautiful girl, Haidee, or
Mademoiselle Aisse, reputed to be of Turkish or Circassian birth, and
possessed of a history as strange as her own personality is attractive,
would seem certainly as pure as angel of the skies. Not so would say the
gossips of Paris, who whisper that mademoiselle is not happy from her
_chevalier_--who speak of a certain visit to England, and a little child
born across seas and not acknowledged by its parent. Aisse, the devout,
the beautiful, is no better than others of her sex in this gay city.
True, she has abandoned all artificial aids to the complexion and
appears distinct among her flattering rivals, the clear olive of her
skin showing in strange contrast to the heightened colors of her
sisters. Yet Aisse, the toast of Europe and the text of poets, proves
herself not behind the others in the loose gaiety of this occasion.

And there came others: Madame de Prie, later to hold such intimate
relations with the fortunes of France in the selection of a future queen
for the boy king; De Sabran, plain, gracious and good-natured; Parabere,
of delicately oval face, of tiny mouth, of thin high nose and large
expressive eyes, her soft hair twined with a deep flushed rose, and over
her corsage drooping a continuous garland of magnificent flowers. Also
Caylus the wit, Caylus the friend of Peter the Great, by duty and by
devotion a _religieus