"Really? And will you tell me what it is?--that is to say, if I am not impertinent to ask you." "Oh! I should be very glad to confide it to you; but I dare not." "Why not, pray?" "Because I am afraid that you would blame me; and I should be so sorry to incur your displeasure." "Make haste; the quadrille is almost over!" "It is--it isn't an easy thing to tell.--Do you waltz, madame?" "Yes, monsieur." "May I have the first waltz?" "I am engaged." "Oh! what luck! If you knew, madame, what a position I am in!" "Would you have told me your secret while we were waltzing?" "Certainly." "You will think that women are very inquisitive, but I accept. I was engaged by a young man whom I don't know; I'll tell him that I made a mistake and that he may have another one." "Ah! you are extremely kind, madame!" The quadrille came to an end, and I escorted my partner to the bench from which I had taken her. The thing for me to do now was to show a bold front in the midst of that assemblage. In vain did I look about in all directions, I did not see a familiar face. The company appeared to be quite select. It was not one of those wedding parties where the guests shriek and make a great noise in order to persuade themselves that they are merry; the men strolled quietly through the rooms, or chatted with the ladies, without any of the shouts of laughter and violent gesticulations which sometimes give to a large party the appearance of a tempestuous sea. The deuce! I found that my presence had been remarked. I met the eye of a stout young man, who had already passed me twice and scrutinized me closely. I felt ill at ease; the self-assurance born of the hearty dinner and the wine I had drunk had already abandoned me; my conversation with my partner, having aroused a most ardent desire to form a more intimate acquaintance with that lady, had instantly dissipated the exhilaration that had led me to commit that signal folly. I was beginning to reflect now, and it must have given me an extremely foolish aspect.--Suddenly I saw that a gentleman had stopped beside me and had taken his snuffbox from his pocket. He had one of those faces which resemble the turkey rather than the eagle; a face which might perhaps have been venerable, but for an enormous nose which covered a great part of it. If I could enter into conversation with him, it seemed to me that I should cut a less awkward figure. X A PINCH OF SNUFF.--A FAMILY TABLEAU I stepped toward him, and, although I never take snuff, I put out my hand in the direction of his snuffbox, saying: "With your permission?" The gentleman was just closing the box, but he hastened to reopen it, and said to me with an expression to which he tried to impart much significance: "Just try that, and tell me what you think of it."