"
"What, you've been in the room quite a time?"
"Oh, yes, quite a long time, which seemed very short; it was only long
because I couldn't see you."
Mme. de Saint-Euverte offered her own chair to the Princess, who declined
it with:
"Oh, please, no! Why should you? It doesn't matter in the least where
I sit." And deliberately picking out, so as the better to display the
simplicity of a really great lady, a low seat without a back: "There now,
that hassock, that's all I want. It will make me keep my back straight.
Oh! Good heavens, I'm making a noise again; they'll be telling you to
have me 'chucked out'."
Meanwhile, the pianist having doubled his speed, the emotion of the
music-lovers was reaching its climax, a servant was handing refreshments
about on a salver, and was making the spoons rattle, and, as on every
other 'party-night', Mme. de Saint-Euverte was making signs to him, which
he never saw, to leave the room. A recent bride, who had been told that a
young woman ought never to appear bored, was smiling vigorously, trying to
catch her hostess's eye so as to flash a token of her gratitude for the
other's having 'thought of her' in connection with so delightful an
entertainment.
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