Louison watched that face keenly, and read something there which aroused a vague suspicion of the woman’s sincerity. She caught one brief, quick glance of the eyes turned upon Mirabeau, and understood at once that there was some understanding between these two persons. Slowly she drew back into the shadow of the hall, and watched them, unseen, as the revel went on. Mirabeau was sitting at the head of the table, leaning back in his cushioned seat, with an air of a lord entertaining his vassals. His dress bore no marks of the foppery which seemed so unnatural in his guests; being noble, he cared nothing for the appearances of high birth. Knowing himself powerful, he gloried in a certain individuality that distinguished him alike from the nobility to which he had belonged, and the people he had adopted. His massive head wore its own thick, tawny hair, swept back from his temples and forehead in waving rolls; his coat of plum-colored velvet, without lace or embroidery, fell away from a snow-white vest, carelessly buttoned half-way up. Here it revealed the broad plaited ruffles which shaded his bosom, and fell so carelessly apart at the throat, that the massive curve of his white neck was clearly exposed until it swelled into the broad chest. In his powerful strength and sublime ugliness this man made the grandest figure in that gorgeous scene. That which the others simulated he felt; and a smile of pleasant scorn came and went around his mouth, as he sat watching the awkward assumption of his guests, who, for once, were masquerading as noblemen. At first Louison had intended to show herself before these people, and confront the man who had so suddenly disenthralled himself from her influence; but the glance which she saw pass so swiftly between him and Du Berry, changed her mind. She resolved to find some method of listening to all that passed, and thus make herself mistress of any secret that might have brought them together. As she stood within the shelter of a mailed statue, near the grand stair-case, Louison saw a side-door open, and a little figure steal softly into the hall, as if afraid of being seen. His face was darker by far than any shadow could make it, and he moved stealthily across the floor till a good view of the supper table was obtained; then he crouched down in the shadow of the stair-case and seemed to disappear. That moment the door of the saloon was closed.