The cloud came back upon Andre’s brow, and he hesitated; but Madame Roquet interposed.

“Spare her!” she exclaimed. “Dame!  I should think so!  She has never left his arm all day.  Here, my child, give me your shawl while you dance, and bake care not to get too warm, for the evening air is dangerous.”

And so Suzette took off her shawl, and Andre was silenced, and Dalrymple, in less than the half hour, was actually whirling away with his arm round little Phillis’s dainty waist.

I am afraid that I proved a very indifferent locum tenens for my brilliant friend, and that the good people thought me exceedingly stupid.  I tried to talk to them, but the language tripped me up at every turn, and the right words never would come when they were wanted.  Besides, I felt uneasy without knowing exactly why.  I could not keep from watching Dalrymple and Suzette.  I could not help noticing how closely he held her; how he never ceased talking to her; and how the smiles and blushes chased each other over her pretty face.  That I should have wit enough to observe these things proved that my education was progressing rapidly; but then, to be sure, I was studying under an accomplished teacher.

They danced for a long time.  So long, that Andre became uneasy, and my available French was quite exhausted.  I was heartily glad when Dalrymple brought back the little bride at last, flushed and panting, and (himself as cool as a diplomatist) assisted her with her shawl and resigned her to the protection of her husband.

“Why hast thou danced so long with that big Englishman?” murmured Andre, discontentedly.  “When I asked thee, thou wast too tired, and now....”

“And now I am so happy to be near thee again,” whispered Suzette.

Andre softened directly.

“But to dance for twenty minutes....” began he.

“Ah, but he danced so well, and I am so fond of waltzing, Andre!”

The cloud gathered again, and an impatient reply was coming, when Dalrymple opportunely invited the whole party to a bowl of punch in an adjoining arbor, and himself led the way with Madame Roquet.  The arbor was vacant, a waiter was placing the chairs, and the punch was blazing in the bowl.  It had evidently been ordered during one of the pauses in the dance, that it might be ready to the moment—­a little attention which called forth exclamations of pleasure from both Madame Roquet and Monsieur Robineau, and touched with something like a gleam of satisfaction even the grim visage of Monsieur Robineau’s wife.

Dalrymple took the head of the table, and stirred the punch into leaping tongues of blue flame till it looked like a miniature Vesuvius.

“What diabolical-looking stuff!” I exclaimed.  “You might, to all appearance, be Lucifer’s own cupbearer.”

“A proof that it ought to be devilish good,” replied Dalrymple, ladling it out into the glasses.  “Allow me, ladies and gentlemen, to propose the health, happiness, and prosperity of the bride and bridegroom.  May they never die, and may they be remembered for ever after!”