usually so calm, some symptoms of ill-disguised agitation. A chair was
vacant near hers, and the Colonel seated himself.

"I dare wager something has vexed you?" said he.
"A mere trifle, General. I want to be gone, for I have promised to go

to a ball at the Grand Duchess of Berg's, and I must look in first at
the Princesse de Wagram's. Monsieur de la Roche-Hugon, who knows this,

is amusing himself by flirting with the dowagers."
"That is not the whole secret of your disturbance, and I will bet a

hundred louis that you will remain here the whole evening."
"Impertinent man!"

"Then I have hit the truth?"
"Well, tell me, what am I thinking of?" said the Countess, tapping the

Colonel's fingers with her fan. "I might even reward you if you guess
rightly."

"I will not accept the challenge; I have too much the advantage of
you."

"You are presumptuous."
"You are afraid of seeing Martial at the feet----"

"Of whom?" cried the Countess, affecting surprise.
"Of that candelabrum," replied the Colonel, glancing at the fair

stranger, and then looking at the Countess with embarrassing scrutiny.
"You have guessed it," replied the coquette, hiding her face behind

her fan, which she began to play with. "Old Madame de Lansac, who is,
you know, as malicious as an old monkey," she went on, after a pause,

"has just told me that Monsieur de la Roche-Hugon is running into
danger by flirting with that stranger, who sits here this evening like

a skeleton at a feast. I would rather see a death's head than that
face, so cruelly beautiful, and as pale as a ghost. She is my evil

genius.--Madame de Lansac," she added, after a flash and gesture of
annoyance, "who only goes to a ball to watch everything while

pretending to sleep, has made me miserablyanxious. Martial shall pay
dearly for playing me such a trick. Urge him, meanwhile, since he is

your friend, not to make me so unhappy."
"I have just been with a man who promises to blow his brains out, and

nothing less, if he speaks to that little lady. And he is a man,
madame, to keep his word. But then I know Martial; such threats are to

him an encouragement. And, besides, we have wagered----" Here the
Colonel lowered his voice.

"Can it be true?" said the Countess.
"On my word of honor."

"Thank you, my dear Colonel," replied Madame de Vaudremont, with a
glance full of invitation.

"Will you do me the honor of dancing with me?"
"Yes; but the next quadrille. During this one I want to find out what

will come of this little intrigue, and to ascertain who the little
blue lady may be; she looks intelligent."

The Colonel, understanding that Madame de Vaudremont wished to be
alone, retired, well content to have begun his attack so well.

At most entertainments women are to be met who are there, like Madame
de Lansac, as old sailors gather on the seashore to watch younger

mariners struggling with the tempest. At this moment Madame de Lansac,
who seemed to be interested in the personages of this drama, could

easily guess the agitation which the Countess was going through. The
lady might fan herself gracefully, smile on the young men who bowed to

her, and bring into play all the arts by which a woman hides her
emotion,--the Dowager, one of the most clear-sighted and mischief-

loving duchesses bequeathed by the eighteenth century to the
nineteenth, could read her heart and mind through it all.

The old lady seemed to detect the slightest movement that revealed the
impressions of the soul. The imperceptible frown that furrowed that

calm, pure forehead, the faintest quiver of the cheeks, the curve of
the eyebrows, the least curl of the lips, whose living coral could

conceal nothing from her,--all these were to the Duchess like the
print of a book. From the depths of her large arm-chair, completely

filled by the flow of her dress, the coquette of the past, while
talking to a diplomate who had sought her out to hear the anecdotes

she told so cleverly, was admiring herself in the younger coquette;
she felt kindly to her, seeing how bravely she disguised her annoyance

and grief of heart. Madame de Vaudremont, in fact, felt as much sorrow
as she feigned cheerfulness; she had believed that she had found in

Martial a man of talent on whose support she could count for adorning
her life with all the enchantment of power; and at this moment she

perceived her mistake, as injurious to her reputation as to her good
opinion of herself. In her, as in other women of that time, the

suddenness of their passions increased their vehemence. Souls which
love much and love often, suffer no less than those which burn

themselves out in one affection. Her liking for Martial was but of
yesterday, it is true, but the least experiencedsurgeon knows that

the pain caused by the amputation of a healthy limb is more acute than
the removal of a diseased one. There was a future before Madame de

Vaudremont's passion for Martial, while her previous love had been
hopeless, and poisoned by Soulanges' remorse.

The old Duchess, who was watching for an opportunity of speaking to
the Countess, hastened to dismiss her Ambassador; for in comparison

with a lover's quarrel every interest pales, even with an old woman.
To engage battle, Madame de Lansac shot at the younger lady a sardonic

glance which made the Countess fear lest her fate was in the dowager's
hands. There are looks between woman and woman which are like the

torches brought on at the climax of a tragedy. No one who had not
known that Duchess could appreciate the terror which the expression of

her countenance inspired in the Countess.
Madame de Lansac was tall, and her features led people to say, "That

must have been a handsome woman!" She coated her cheeks so thickly
with rouge that the wrinkles were scarcely visible; but her eyes, far

from gaining a factitious brilliancy from this strong carmine, looked
all the more dim. She wore a vast quantity of diamonds, and dressed

with sufficient taste not to make herself ridiculous. Her sharp nose
promised epigram. A well-fitted set of teeth preserved a smile of such

irony as recalled that of Voltaire. At the same time, the exquisite
politeness of her manners so effectually softened the mischievous

twist in her mind, that it was impossible to accuse her of
spitefulness.

The old woman's eyes lighted up, and a triumphant glance, seconded by
a smile, which said, "I promised you as much!" shot across the room,

and brought a blush of hope to the pale cheeks of the young creature
languishing under the great chandelier. The alliance between Madame de

Lansac and the stranger could not escape the practised eye of the
Comtesse de Vaudremont, who scented a mystery, and was determined to

penetrate it.
At this instant the Baron de la Roche-Hugon, after questioning all the

dowagers without success as to the blue lady's name, applied in
despair to the Comtesse de Gondreville, from whom he reached only this

unsatisfactory reply, "A lady whom the 'ancient' Duchesse de Lansac
introduced to me."

Turning by chance towards the armchair occupied by the old lady, the
lawyer intercepted the glance of intelligence she sent to the

stranger; and although he had for some time been on bad terms with
her, he determined to speak to her. The "ancient" Duchess, seeing the

jaunty Baron prowling round her chair, smiled with sardonic irony, and
looked at Madame de Vaudremont with an expression that made Montcornet

laugh.
"If the old witch affects to be friendly," thought the Baron, "she is

certainly going to play me some spiteful trick.--Madame," he said,
"you have, I am told, undertaken the charge of a very precious

treasure."
"Do you take me for a dragon?" said the old lady. "But of whom are you

speaking?" she added, with a sweetness which revived Martial's hopes.
"Of that little lady, unknown to all, whom the jealousy of all these

coquettes has imprisoned in that corner. You, no doubt, know her
family?"

"Yes," said the Duchess. "But what concern have you with a provincial
heiress, married some time since, a woman of good birth, whom you none

of you know, you men; she goes nowhere."
"Why does not she dance, she is such a pretty creature?--May we

conclude a treaty of peace? If you will vouchsafe to tell me all I
want to know, I promise you that a petition for the restitution of the