At one o'clock on the 16th I went to the Rue d'Antin.

The voice of the auctioneer could be heard from the outer door.

The rooms were crowded with people.

There were all the celebrities of the most elegant impropriety, furtively examined by certain great ladies who had again seized the opportunity of the sale in order to be able to see, close at hand, women whom they might never have another occasion of meeting, and whom they envied perhaps in secret for their easy pleasures.

The Duchess of F.elbowed Mlle.