"I did not understand what her little friend, Princess Celia, meant by saying when we came in that she would be so happy and beautiful this evening.

It is doubtless on that account that she is coming here, after cloistering herself all the time the affair lasted, as if she were in mourning." However, Lisbeth's eyes had chanced to meet those of Narcisse, and as she smiled at him he was, in his turn, obliged to pay his respects to her, for, like everybody else of the foreign colony, he knew her through having visited her studio.

He was again returning to Pierre when a fresh outburst of emotion stirred the diamond aigrettes and the flowers adorning the ladies' hair.

People turned to see what was the matter, and again did the hubbub increase.

"Ah! it's Count Prada in person!" murmured Narcisse, with an admiring glance.