You present yourself for admission to a club.
They say, 'I promise to give you a white ball.

It will be an alabaster ball--a snowball! They vote.

It's a black ball.

Life seems a vile affair when I think of it." "Then don't think of it." Daniel Salomon, who had joined them, whispered in their ears spicy stories in a lowered voice.

And at every strange revelation concerning Madame Raymond, or Madame Berthier, or Princess Seniavine, he added, negligently: "Everybody knows it." Then, little by little, the crowd of visitors dispersed.