Wilhelm did not give the impression of a man who was enjoying himself.  His discontented gaze persistently followed one dark head adorned with a yellow rose.

Loulou, for of course it was she, wore a cream-colored silk crepon dress.  Her little feet in pale yellow satin shoes played at hide-and-seek under her skirt.  She looked charming, and seemed very happy.  She danced with a magic lightness and gracefulness, and she showed an endurance which had elicited applause and acknowledgments from her partners.  People were delighted with her, and she hardly allowed herself time to breathe, for as the privileged daughter of the house, she wandered from one partner to another, trying hard to offend as few of her admirers as possible by a refusal.  But Wilhelm had no cause for jealousy, as her sparkling eyes continually sought his, and as often as she danced near him she gave him an electrifying glance and a sweet smile, telling him that he might now hold his head high like a conqueror, or humble himself with languishing sentiment, that for her there was only one man in the room, one man in all the mirrors, the handsome youth in the window recess between the red silk curtains.  In the short pauses she came over to him and spoke a word or two, always the same sort of thing:  “Ah! how So-and-so worries me.  What a pity that you don’t dance, it would be so lovely.  Oh! if only you knew how Fraulein S——­admires you, and how angry all the ladies are that you won’t be introduced to them.”  And Wilhelm thanked her with the same quiet smile, took her fingers when he could and pressed them, and stayed in his window corner.

Presently Loulou went toward someone in the room, who looked back at the same time toward Wilhelm.  It was his friend Paul Haber, for whom he had obtained an invitation.  Paul looked at him proudly and gayly.  His short hair was beautifully cut and brushed, his thick blonde mustache curled in the most approved fashion.  In his buttonhole he wore the decoration of the 1866 war medal, and when he saw himself in the glass he could say with perfect self-satisfaction, that he looked just as much like an officer as the men in uniform, not even excepting those of the Guard.  Since the campaign of 1866, in which Paul had served in the same company as Wilhelm, they had been firm friends, and on this evening he wished to offer his respects before the manifest possessor of her heart, to one of the greatest heiresses in Berlin, also his gratitude for his introduction to this splendid house, and his tender feelings for his comrade.  In spite of being occupied with his partners he had time to observe Wilhelm, and the sight of him standing alone in the window recess immediately cooled the nervous excitement wrought by the crowd of strangers.  These society gatherings were what he delighted in, and he thought it his duty to try to model his friend in the same way.  It was not without a struggle with himself that he let a dance go by and went over to where Wilhelm stood.