The countess looked at her husband to ask for his arm with one of
those glances which husbands do not always understand. Felix did so,
and took her home.

"My dear friend," said Madame d'Espard in Raoul's ear, "you are a
lucky fellow. You have made more than one conquest to-night, and among
them that of the charming woman who has just left us so abruptly."

"Do you know what the Marquise d'Espard meant by that?" said Raoul to
Rastignac, when they happened to be comparatively alone between one
and two o'clock in the morning.

"I am told that the Comtesse de Vandenesse has taken a violent fancy
to you. You are not to be pitied!" said Rastignac.

"I did not see her," said Raoul.

"Oh! but you will see her, you scamp!" cried Emile Blondet, who was
standing by. "Lady Dudley is going to ask you to her grand ball, that
you may meet the pretty countess."

Raoul and Blondet went off with Rastignac, who offered them his
carriage. All three laughed at the combination of an eclectic
under-secretary of State, a ferocious republican, and a political
atheist.

"Suppose we sup at the expense of the present order of things?" said
Blondet, who would fain recall suppers to fashion.