most insinuating question which a woman can put to a man:

"Do you like me very much this evening?"

And the more dreamy he became, the more the Countess pressed and
teased him.

While Martial was dancing, the Colonel moved from group to group,
seeking information about the unknown lady. After exhausting the
good-humor even of the most indifferent, he had resolved to take
advantage of a moment when the Comtesse de Gondreville seemed to be at
liberty, to ask her the name of the mysterious lady, when he perceived
a little space left clear between the pedestal of the candelabrum and
the two sofas, which ended in that corner. The dance had left several
of the chairs vacant, which formed rows of fortifications held by
mothers or women of middle age; and the Colonel seized the opportunity
to make his way through this palisade hung with shawls and wraps. He
began by making himself agreeable to the dowagers, and so from one to
another, and from compliment to compliment, he at last reached the
empty space next the stranger. At the risk of catching on to the
gryphons and chimaeras of the huge candelabrum, he stood there,
braving the glare and dropping of the wax candles, to Martial's
extreme annoyance.

The Colonel, far too tactful to speak suddenly to the little blue lady
on his right, began by saying to a plain woman who was seated on the
left:

"This is a splendid ball, madame! What luxury! What life! On my word,
every woman here is pretty! You are not dancing--because you do not