“You do not dance, Monsieur Dalbreuse?” “No, monsieur; I don’t care for dancing now.” “I used to be very fond of it myself; in fact, I was a very good dancer. I remember that, in _Amphitryon_, when I played Sosie--A very nice rôle, that of Sosie! Dugazon made me rehearse it very carefully.--You know the famous scene of the lantern. Dugazon used to leap over the lantern and cut all sorts of capers; but I proposed to do differently. I placed the lantern--look, like this chair, at about this distance. Then I ran forward, making a pirouette as I ran, and I executed a very neat _entrechat_ as I landed on the other side. It was very difficult. Look--I’ll just turn the chair over so that I can show you better.” “What, uncle! are you going to jump over chairs now?” “No, my dear, no, I don’t intend to jump; but I was explaining to Monsieur Dalbreuse what I did as Sosie; and I flatter myself that no actor at the Français ever jumped higher than I did.” Luckily for Monsieur Roquencourt, one of his Saint-Mandé neighbors came to bid him good-evening, and seated himself in the chair that he was about to take. That saved Monsieur Roquencourt the trouble of showing me how he jumped, and he entered into conversation with the newcomer. “You are not dancing?” I said to Caroline. “Oh, no! I shouldn’t care to dance here, except with somebody whom I know very well. Besides, I am like you, I no longer care for dancing. I don’t intend to go to any balls this winter--or into society at all. All the things that I used to enjoy so much bore me terribly now. I shall stay at home--alone--with my thoughts. To be able to think at one’s leisure is such a great satisfaction sometimes!” She looked at me, then we both lowered our eyes and relapsed into silence. Meanwhile Monsieur Roquencourt was almost quarrelling with his neighbor. “I tell you, monsieur, that Dugazon never played Moncade in _L’École des Bourgeois_!” “I beg your pardon, but I saw him.” “You are mistaken--it was Fleury.” “No, it was Dugazon.” “But it is impossible; the part wasn’t in his line. It is as if you should say that you had seen me play Hamlet or Œdipe; it is absolutely the same thing.” “I don’t know what you have played, but I saw Dugazon play the Marquis de Moncade.” “Oh! that is enough to make a man jump to the ceiling!” But the little uncle could not jump to the ceiling, as we were under the trees; so he contented himself with falling backward with his chair; which made me afraid that he proposed to play Sosie again. Caroline and I could not help smiling. That diverted our thoughts for a moment. Suddenly Mademoiselle Derbin, who was watching the dancing again, said to her uncle: “Ah! there is my lace-mender; how finely she is arrayed! She hasn’t a bad style; really one would think that she was a lady of fashion. Look, Monsieur Dalbreuse--that woman in a lilac hat is she.” I looked at the person she pointed out to me, and I felt a shock of terror, as if I had seen a serpent.