Ah! mon Dieu! I have remarkable confidence in you, sir; you will not take advantage of her, will you ?" Her voice was tender and her eyes moist.
"You may rely upon me, madam; but I sincerely wish I had gone a week ago." "Eh! mon Dieu! who could have foreseen such a thing?
Hush! there she comes!" I turned round and saw Madame de Palme coming out of the parlor; before her the throng opened with that timorous eagerness and that species of terror which the supreme elegance of one of society's queens generally inspires in our sex.

For the first time, Madame de Palme appeared handsome to me; the expression of her countenance was wholly novel to me, and a weird animation gleamed in her eyes and transfigured her features.
"Am I to your taste ?" she said.
I manifested by I know not what movement an assent, which was moreover but too evident to the keen eye of a woman.
"I was looking for you," she added, "to show you the conservatory; it's fairy-like.

Come!" She took my arm, and we started in the direction of the conservatory door which opened at the other end of the parlor, extending as far as the park, through the vines and the perfumes of hundreds of exotic plants, all the splendors of the feast.

While we were admiring the effect of the girandoles that sparkled amid the luxuriant tropical flora like the bright constellations of another hemisphere, several gentlemen came to claim Madame de Palme's hand for a waltz; she refused them all, though I was sufficiently disinterested to join my entreaties to theirs.
"Our respective roles seem to me somewhat inverted," she said: "it is I who am detaining you, and you wish to get rid of me!" "Heaven preserve me from such an idea! but I am afraid lest you may deprive yourself, out of kindness to me, of a pleasure you are so fond of." "No! I know very well that I seek you and you avoid me.

It is rather absurd in the eyes of the world, but I care nothing for that.