outspoken fears; and the new conviction of all had found
expression in the words of the host himself,--"Il n'y a rien de
mieux a faire que de s'amuser!" Of what avail to lament the
prospective devastation of cane-fields,--to discuss the possible
ruin of crops? Better to seek solace in choregraphic harmonies,
in the rhythm of gracious motion and of perfect melody, than
hearken to the discords of the wild orchestra of storms;--wiser
to admire the grace of Parisian toilets, the eddy of trailing
robes with its fairy-foam of lace, the ivorine loveliness of
glossy shoulders and jewelled throats, the glimmering of
satin-slippered feet,--than to watch the raging of the flood
without, or the flying of the wrack ...

So the music and the mirth went on: they made joy for
themselves--those elegant guests;--they jested and sipped rich
wines;--they pledged, and hoped, and loved, and promised, with
never a thought of the morrow, on the night of the tenth of
August, eighteen hundred and fifty-six. Observant parents were
there, planning for the future bliss of their nearest and
dearest;--mothers and fathers of handsome lads, lithe and elegant
as young pines, and fresh from the polish of foreign university
training;--mothers and fathers of splendid girls whose simplest
attitudes were witcheries. Young cheeks flushed, young hearts
fluttered with an emotion more puissant than the excitement of
the dance;--young eyes betrayed the happy secret discreeter lips
would have preserved. Slave-servants circled through the
aristocratic press, bearing dainties and wines, praying
permission to pass in terms at once humble and officious,--always
in the excellent French which well-trained house-servants were
taught to use on such occasions.