Mme du Joncquoy declared that the present proceedings were senseless.

It was madness to crowd five hundred people into a room which would scarcely contain two hundred.

In fact, why not sign the wedding contract on the Place du Carrousel?
This was the outcome of the new code of manners, said Mme Chantereau.

In old times these solemnities took place in the bosom of the family, but today one must have a mob of people; the whole street must be allowed to enter quite freely, and there must be a great crush, or else the evening seems a chilly affair.

People now advertised their luxury and introduced the mere foam on the wave of Parisian society into their houses, and accordingly it was only too natural if illicit proceedings such as they had been discussing afterward polluted the hearth.