"Positively, madame, she came alone," said one.
"She must be a bold woman," replied the lady.
"If I were dressed like that I should feel myself naked," said another
woman.
"Oh, the gown is not decent, certainly," replied her partner; "but it
is so becoming, and she is so handsome."
"I am ashamed to look at such perfect dancing, for her sake; isn't it
exactly that of an opera girl?" said the envious woman.
"Do you suppose that she has come here to intrigue for the First
Consul?" said another.
"A joke if she has," replied the partner.
"Well, she can't offer innocence as a dowry," said the lady, laughing.
The Gars turned abruptly to see the lady who uttered this sarcasm, and
Madame du Gua looked at him as if to say, "You see what people think
of her."
"Madame," said the count, laughing, "so far, it is only women who have
taken her innocence away from her."
The marquis privately forgave the count. When he ventured to look at
his mistress, whose beauty was, like that of most women, brought into
relief by the light of the wax candles, she turned her back upon him
as she resumed her place, and went on talking to her partner in a way
to let the marquis hear the sweetest and most caressing tones of her
voice.
"The First Consul sends dangerous ambassadors," her partner was
saying.
"Monsieur," she replied, "you all said that at La Vivetiere.
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