"Choisissez!" he answered, with a bow.

One sees a veteran swordsman take up the foil with a tentative turn
of the wrist, lunging at thin air. His zest for the game has gone;
but the skill lingers, and at times he is tempted to show the
younger blades a pass or two. These were veteran fencers with a
skill of their own, which they loved to display at times. The zest
was that of remembrance; the sword-play of words was above the head
of a younger generation given to slang and music-hall airs; and so
these two had little bouts for their own edification, and enjoyed
the glitter of it vastly.

Sir John's face relaxed into the only repose he ever allowed it; for
he had a habit of twitching and moving his lips such as some old men
have. And occasionally, in an access of further senility, he
fumbled with his fingers at his mouth. He was clean shaven, and
even in his old age he was handsome beyond other men--standing an
upright six feet two.

The object of his attention was the belle of that ball, Miss
Millicent Chyne, who was hemmed into a corner by a group of eager
dancers anxious to insert their names in some corner of her card.
She was the fashion at that time. And she probably did not know
that at least half of the men crowded round because the other half
were there. Nothing succeeds like the success that knows how to
draw a crowd.

She received the ovation self-possessedly enough, but without that
hauteur affected by belles of balls--in books. She seemed to have a
fresh smile for each new applicant--a smile which conveyed to each