Certainly we were not disappointed. Having run the gauntlet of a crowd who smothered us with confetti, we entered the great winter-garden of the Casino and found it a blaze of color--the two colors of Carnival. Suspended from the high glass roof were thousands of bannerets of mauve and old gold, while the costumes of the revellers were of the self-same shades. Everywhere were colored lights of similar hue, and the fun was already fast and furious. The side-rooms, which, as most readers will remember, are ordinarily devoted to gambling,--for gambling in a mild form is permitted at Nice,--were now turned into handsome supper-rooms, and in the winter-garden and the theatre beyond the scene was perhaps one of the liveliest and most animated in the whole world. All had gone there to enjoy themselves. In the theatre there was wild dancing, the boxes were filled by the grand monde of Europe, princes and princesses, grand dukes and duchesses, counts and countesses, noted actresses from Paris and London, and well-known people of every nationality, all enjoying the scene of uproarious merry-making. We viewed it first from our own box, but at length someone suggested that we should descend and dance, an idea which was promptly acted upon. Masked as every one was, with the little piece of black lace tacked to the bottom of the black velvet loup in order to conceal the lower part of the features, it was impossible to recognize a single person in that huge, whirling crowd. Therefore immediately we descended to the floor of the theatre we at once became separated from one another. I stood for a few minutes bewildered. The blaze of color made one’s head reel. People in all sorts of droll costumes, false heads, and ugly masks were playing various kinds of childish antics. Out in the winter-garden clowns and devils were playing leap-frog and sylphs and angels, joining hands, were whirling round and round in huge rings playing some game and screaming with laughter. Almost every one carried miniature representations of Punch with bells attached, large rattles, or paper flowers, which when blown elongated to a ridiculous extent. Never before in all my life had I been amid such a merry, irresponsible crowd. The ludicrousness of Carnival reaches its climax in the ball at the Casino, and whatever may be said of it, it is without doubt one of the annual sights of Europe. I have heard it denounced as a disgraceful exhibition by old ladies who have been compelled to admit that they had never been present, but I must say that from first to last, although the fun was absolutely unbridled, I saw nothing whatever to offend. I was standing aside, watching the dancers, when suddenly a tall man dressed in a remarkable costume representing an owl approached, and bowing, said in rather good English, in a deep but not unmusical voice,-- “Might I have the pleasure of this dance with mademoiselle?”