He put out both his hands and took both hers, drawing her to a seat with an air of the tenderest veneration.

It was a most harmonious family group, and Newman discreetly retired.

He moved through the rooms for some time longer, circulating freely, overtopping most people by his great height, renewing acquaintance with some of the groups to which Urbain de Bellegarde had presented him, and expending generally the surplus of his equanimity.

He continued to find it all extremely agreeable; but the most agreeable things have an end, and the revelry on this occasion began to deepen to a close.

The music was sounding its ultimate strains and people were looking for the marquise, to make their farewells.