When on Tuesdays the number of visitors was small, tea was handed round the drawing room itself.

While directing a footman to clear a round table the countess followed the Count de Vandeuvres with her eyes.

She still smiled that vague smile which slightly disclosed her white teeth, and as the count passed she questioned him.
"What ARE you plotting, Monsieur de Vandeuvres ?" "What am I plotting, madame ?" he answered quietly.

"Nothing at all." "Really! I saw you so busy.

Pray, wait, you shall make yourself useful!" She placed an album in his hands and asked him to put it on the piano.
But he found means to inform Fauchery in a low whisper that they would have Tatan Nene, the most finely developed girl that winter, and Maria Blond, the same who had just made her first appearance at the Folies-Dramatiques.