"Oh! that's fine! How much better we go with the piano!--Not quite so fast, madame, please! The polka isn't like the waltz." But I could do no more; I stopped and threw myself into a chair. Mademoiselle Rosette thereupon concluded to sit down; and as she took out her handkerchief to wipe her face, she dropped a thimble, two skeins of cotton, a piece of cake, two sous, a spool of thread, a card, a lump of sugar, a skein of silk, and three plums. She got down on all fours to pick them up, then glanced at the clock and cried: "Mon Dieu! half-past one! To think that I've been here an hour and a half, and I didn't mean to stay five minutes! Oh! what a trouncing I shall get! luckily, I don't care a hang! Adieu, Monsieur What's-your-name! I'm going." She had already left the salon; I hurried after her and overtook her in the reception room, and, seizing her around the waist, said: "When shall I see you again?" "_Dame!_ I don't know; whenever you say." "Will you dine with me to-morrow?" "Dine with you? Yes, I'd like to." "Will you be on Passage Vendôme at five o'clock?" "No, no! not on Passage Vendôme; that's too near my employer's; someone might see me. Better go where we met first, on Boulevard Bonne-Nouvelle, in front of the Gymnase." "Very good; at five o'clock?" "That's too early; half-past five." "Half-past five it is. Until to-morrow, then!" "Yes; adieu!" I kissed her, and she ran down the stairs four at a time. I returned to the salon. Frédérique's face wore a singular expression. She pretended to laugh, but her merriment seemed forced to me. "Will you forgive me for leaving you alone a moment while I said a word to that young woman?" I said, as I sat down beside her. "Why, of course! Do friends stand on ceremony with one another?" "You see, I have taken advantage of the permission you gave me." "You have done well.--Ha! ha! ha!" "Why do you laugh?" "Because you looked so comical, polking with that grisette just now. I had so little expectation of finding a ball in progress here!--Ha! ha! ha! I was speechless." "By the way, how did you come in?" "Through the door, naturally; I rang, and your servant admitted me. But you were so hard at work with your dancing that you didn't hear me--apparently.--Ha! ha! ha!" "Oho! my servant admitted you, did he? I sent him on an errand and forbade him to return before two o'clock. The rascal! he couldn't restrain his curiosity, and he came back before the time." "I disturbed you--I am very sorry. But it seemed to me that you had had enough; you were on your last legs. _Fichtre!_ what a dancer that damsel is! You and I dance very well together--they took us for artists from the Opéra, you know; but if you had polked with your friend at Monsieur Bocal's ball, they would have carried you both in triumph, like _Musard_.--Ha! ha! ha!" "You are in a satirical mood, Frédérique."