I think they lower their dignity when I see these statesmen, heroes of campaign, representatives of the people, laughing, joking, and playing together like any little shopkeeper after closing hours." Paul could not give an immediate answer, and he had not time to think of one; as the music stopped the dance ended, and many people moved toward them, making further conversation impossible.

The gentlemen came out of the drawing-room and smoking-rooms and mingled with the dancers.
Paul made his way neatly through the crowd toward a fresh, pretty, but otherwise insignificant-looking girl, to whom he had paid a great deal of attention, and with whom he wished to dance again.

Wilhelm looked for Loulou, whom he found near her mother.

Frau Ellrich spoke to him in a friendly way.

"Are you enjoying yourself ?" she asked, with a kind, almost tender expression on her melancholy face.