[Sidenote:  Nearly a Duel]

I saw the Marquis talking to a very young youth; he seemed pleading with him about something, and presently the youth crossed over and kissed Godmamma’s hand, then asked Victorine for the cotillon.  She looked furious, but she was obliged to say yes, as no one else had asked her; it was getting late, and the Marquis was busy speaking to some other ladies.  Presently he came up to us, and the young youth said before he could speak:  “N’ai-je pas de la veine, mon cher, Mlle. de Croixmare m’a promis le cotillon.”  Upon which the Marquis asked me to dance it with him—­right out loud before Godmamma! and when I said I had half promised it to Monsieur de la Tremors, he looked so cross and offended, that I thought it was better to be firm with him, as I had been with the Vicomte.  He—­the Vicomte—­came up just then, and they looked as if they wanted to fight each other; so I said if they would stop frowning, I would dance it with both of them, but if they were nasty, I should not dance it with either; and so that is how it ended, I was to have one on each side.

Godmamma said to me that it was unheard of conduct, and might have produced a duel, and when I tried to explain to her that that was just what I had avoided, she looked angrier than ever, and would not understand.  Wasn’t it stupid of her, Mamma?

[Sidenote:  The Two Partners]

At last we got to the pavilion, and all sat round, and having both the Vicomte and the Marquis to talk to, I did have fun.  They arranged that our chairs should be against the wall, and not in the row that the chaperons were behind.  Godmamma tried to make signs to me to come and sit by Victorine in front of her, but I pretended not to see, until all the chairs were filled up.  The Marquise de Vermandoise was next me, with the Vicomte between; she was dancing with the Comte.  We were gay!  The first set of presents were big brocade bags, and we called one our “pot au feu” and pretended it was for the ingredients to make bon menage, and so all the presents that were small enough afterwards we put in there to keep for me.  I did have lots!  A cotillon is very easy, Mamma, as you have often told me, and it was fun dancing with all sorts of strange people that one did not even know.  In one figure a huge Russian prince got hold of me, and squeezed me until I very nearly screamed; you see, Mamma, how dreadful foreigners are like that.  It was like being hugged by a bear in the Zoo; and after it, he kept giving me flowers or presents if I dared to sit down for a moment, but he did not say a word except once or twice a mumble of “Adorable mademoiselle.”