A movement of Mme. Franquetot's
head disclosed the Princess. At once Mme. de Gallardon dashed towards her,
upsetting all her neighbours; although determined to preserve a distant
and glacial manner which should remind everyone present that she had no
desire to remain on friendly terms with a person in whose house one might
find oneself, any day, cheek by jowl with the Princesse Mathilde, and to
whom it was not her duty to make advances since she was not 'of her
generation,' she felt bound to modify this air of dignity and reserve by
some non-committal remark which would justify her overture and would force
the Princess to engage in conversation; and so, when she reached her
cousin, Mme. de Gallardon, with a stern countenance and one hand thrust
out as though she were trying to 'force' a card, began with: "How is your
husband?" in the same anxious tone that she would have used if the Prince
had been seriously ill. The Princess, breaking into a laugh which was one
of her characteristics, and was intended at once to shew the rest of an
assembly that she was making fun of some one and also to enhance her own
beauty by concentrating her features around her animated lips and
sparkling eyes, answered: "Why; he's never been better in his life!" And
she went on laughing.
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