"Is it possible there should be people who don't love music ?" The exclamation of surprise was general.

No one had dropped a single word concerning the performance at the Varietes, at which the good Mme Hugon had not understood any of the allusions.

The ladies knew the piece but said nothing about it, and with that they plunged into the realm of sentiment and began discussing the masters in a tone of refined and ecstatical admiration.

Mme du Joncquoy was not fond of any of them save Weber, while Mme Chantereau stood up for the Italians.

The ladies' voices had turned soft and languishing, and in front of the hearth one might have fancied one's self listening in meditative, religious retirement to the faint, discreet music of a little chapel.
"Now let's see," murmured Vandeuvres, bringing Fauchery back into the middle of the drawing room, "notwithstanding it all, we must invent a woman for tomorrow.