Part 21 (2/2)
”We have an engagement.”
”Until this evening, then.”
”The ball is not to be at your mother-in-law's, is it?”
”No, at Lointier's. It will be magnificent.”
”We will be there.”
How glad we were to be alone again! We had plenty to laugh about, as we pa.s.sed in review the original creatures whom we had met; and although my wife is not malicious, she was fully alive to the absurdities of the company.
We had promised to attend the ball, so we had no choice but to go; moreover, it was impossible that it should be so dreary a function as the breakfast; and then it was to take place in the same salons in which we had given ours, and we were not sorry to see them once more.
We went late, because we hoped to find the dancing well under way; but we were surprised to find the salons almost empty, and only two quadrilles in progress, so that everybody had plenty of room to dance.
And yet it was after eleven o'clock.
Belan came to meet us. His face was a yard long, and he said to me:
”It is most annoying: my mother-in-law would not allow me to invite more than thirty people; for she said that, with her family and acquaintances, that would be quite enough; and you see how much empty s.p.a.ce there is. I am aware that the party is very select, but a few more people would do no harm.”
”One result, my dear Belan, is that it is much more comfortable to dance.”
”Yes, that is so; the dancers will gain by it.”
”And madame is no longer ill?”
”No, that didn't last. But now it is my mother-in-law's turn to have fits of suffocation. Just look at her eyes; she's a regular rabbit; she makes me sick. She is crying now because my wife dances every contradance; she declares that her daughter will be killed. Great heaven, what an emotional creature she is!”
”But I don't see the Giraud family here, and that surprises me, for of course you invited them?”
”Mon Dieu! my dear Blemont, don't speak of it. I was distressed to death, but my mother-in-law declared that the Girauds had manners which would be entirely out of place with her family, and she would not allow me to invite them.”
”But Madame de Beausire used to go to their house, if I remember aright?”
”Yes, but since the little Giraud girl stuck her tongue out at her, she has sworn that she will never put her foot inside their door.”
”I thought that Giraud was instrumental in arranging your marriage?”
”True, he did start the business.”
”And you haven't invited him? He will never forgive you as long as he lives.”
”What could I do? My mother-in-law--But excuse me, I believe that she is motioning to me.”
We left Belan, and I danced with my Eugenie. We were happy to dance together, to be again in those rooms which had been the scene of our own wedding. Our eyes expressed love and contentment. Surely we looked more as if we were at a wedding than anybody else there.
To dance is the best thing that one can do at a ball where one knows n.o.body. All those Beausires, who stalked solemnly about the quadrilles, and the old aunts who sat against the wall, seemed almost displeased to see other people apparently enjoying themselves. I felt sure that they considered us very ill-bred.
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