He mixed with the various groups, said something confidently to everyone and walked away again with a sly wink and a secret signal or two.

It looked as though he were giving out a watchword in that easy way of his.

The news went round; the place of meeting was announced, while the ladies' sentimental dissertations on music served to conceal the small, feverish rumor of these recruiting operations.
"No, do not speak of your Germans," Mme Chantereau was saying.

"Song is gaiety; song is light.

Have you heard Patti in the Barber of Seville ?" "She was delicious!" murmured Leonide, who strummed none but operatic airs on her piano.
Meanwhile the Countess Sabine had rung.