“Oh, I will shake hands with any one you want,” said Newman.  “Your mother just introduced me to half a dozen old gentlemen.  Take care you don’t pick up the same parties again.”

“Who are the gentlemen to whom my mother presented you?”

“Upon my word, I forgot them,” said Newman, laughing.  “The people here look very much alike.”

“I suspect they have not forgotten you,” said the marquis.  And he began to walk through the rooms.  Newman, to keep near him in the crowd, took his arm; after which for some time, the marquis walked straight along, in silence.  At last, reaching the farther end of the suite of reception-rooms, Newman found himself in the presence of a lady of monstrous proportions, seated in a very capacious arm-chair, with several persons standing in a semicircle round her.  This little group had divided as the marquis came up, and M. de Bellegarde stepped forward and stood for an instant silent and obsequious, with his hat raised to his lips, as Newman had seen some gentlemen stand in churches as soon as they entered their pews.  The lady, indeed, bore a very fair likeness to a reverend effigy in some idolatrous shrine.  She was monumentally stout and imperturbably serene.  Her aspect was to Newman almost formidable; he had a troubled consciousness of a triple chin, a small piercing eye, a vast expanse of uncovered bosom, a nodding and twinkling tiara of plumes and gems, and an immense circumference of satin petticoat.  With her little circle of beholders this remarkable woman reminded him of the Fat Lady at a fair.  She fixed her small, unwinking eyes at the new-comers.

“Dear duchess,” said the marquis, “let me present you our good friend Mr. Newman, of whom you have heard us speak.  Wishing to make Mr. Newman known to those who are dear to us, I could not possibly fail to begin with you.”

“Charmed, dear friend; charmed, monsieur,” said the duchess in a voice which, though small and shrill, was not disagreeable, while Newman executed his obeisance.  “I came on purpose to see monsieur.  I hope he appreciates the compliment.  You have only to look at me to do so, sir,” she continued, sweeping her person with a much-encompassing glance.  Newman hardly knew what to say, though it seemed that to a duchess who joked about her corpulence one might say almost anything.  On hearing that the duchess had come on purpose to see Newman, the gentlemen who surrounded her turned a little and looked at him with sympathetic curiosity.  The marquis with supernatural gravity mentioned to him the name of each, while the gentleman who bore it bowed; they were all what are called in France beaux noms.  “I wanted extremely to see you,” the duchess went on.  “C’est positif.  In the first place, I am very fond of the person you are going to marry; she is the most charming creature in France.  Mind you treat her well, or you shall hear some news of me.  But you look as if you were good.  I am told you are very remarkable.  I have heard all sorts of extraordinary things about you.  Voyons, are they true?”