"I, refused? What an idea! Why, I want to dance dreadfully. Well, there's plenty of time--oh, don't look at your watch; I don't want to know the time. And so you think I am gay, do you? Well, no, I don't feel gay. I'm happy--I'm very happy--there, now! I say, Denoisel, when you are strolling about in Paris, you know those old women who wear Lorraine caps, and who stand in the doorways selling matches--well, you are to give a sovereign each to the first five you meet; I'll give it you back. I've saved some money--don't forget. Is that waltz still going on? Is it really true that I refused to dance? Well, after this one I'm going to dance everything, and I shall not be particular about my partners. They can be as ugly as they like, they can wear shoes that have been resoled, and talk to me about Royer-Collard if they like, they can be too tall or too short, they can come up to my elbow or I can come up to their waist--it won't matter to me even if their hands perspire--I'll dance with any of them. That's how I feel to-night, and yet people say that I am not charitable." Just at that moment a man entered the little drawing-room. It was M. Davarande. "Invite me for this waltz, please," said Renee, and as she passed by Denoisel she whispered: "You see I'm beginning with the family." XXXIII "What's the matter with your mother this evening?" Denoisel asked Renee. They were alone, as Mme. Mauperin had just gone upstairs to bed, and M. Mauperin to have a look round at the works, which were on late that night. "What's the matter with her, she seems as----" "Surly as a bulldog--say it out." "Well, but what's it all about?" "Ah, that's just it," and Renee began to laugh. "The fact is I've just lost a chance of being married--and so here I am still." "Another? But then that's your speciality!" "Oh, this is only the fourteenth. That's only an average number; and it's all through you that I've lost this chance." "Through me? Well, I never! What do you mean?" Renee got up, put her hands in her pockets, and walked up and down the room from one end to the other. Every now and then she stopped short, turned round on one heel, and gave a sort of whistle. "Yes, through you!" she said, coming back to Denoisel. "What should you think if I told you that I had refused eighty thousand pounds?" "They must have been astonished."