increase the number of trinkets now that we are in the reception-rooms.
These armchairs seem to await invited guests. They are known. They have
been illustrated in a magazine of decorative art in Paris. And that
dining-room through that door, with all the silver on the table, would
you not think a fete had been prepared?"

"Baron," said Madame Gorka, "look at this material; it is of the
eighteenth century, is it not?"

"Baron," asked Madame Maitland, "is this cup with the lid old Vienna or
Capadimonte?"

"Baron," said Florent Chapron, "is this armor of Florentine or Milanese
workmanship?"

The eyeglass was raised to the Baron's thin nose, his small eyes
glittered, his lips were pursed up, and he replied, in words as exact as
if he had studied all the details of the catalogue verbatim. Their
thanks were soon followed by many other questions, in which two voices
alone did not join, that of Alba Steno and that of Dorsenne. Under any
other circumstances, the latter would have tried to dissipate the
increasing sadness of the young girl, who said no more to him after he
repulsed her amicable anxiety. In reality, he attached no great
importance to it. Those transitions from excessive gayety to sudden
depression were so habitual with the Contessina, above all when with him.
Although they were the sign of a vivid sentiment, the young man saw in
them only nervous unrest, for his mind was absorbed with other thoughts.

He asked himself if, at any hazard, after the manner in which Madame
Gorka had spoken, it would not be more prudent to acquaint Lincoln