y
would hardly have pleased him; he would have thought the women not
pretty enough and the men too smirking; but he was now in a humor to
receive none but agreeable impressions, and he looked no more narrowly
than to perceive that every one was brilliant, and to feel that the sun
of their brilliancy was a part of his credit. "I will present you to
some people," said M. de Bellegarde after a while. "I will make a point
of it, in fact. You will allow me?"

"Oh, I will shake hands with any one you want," said Newman. "Your
mother just introduced me to half a dozen old gentlemen. Take care you
don't pick up the same parties again."

"Who are the gentlemen to whom my mother presented you?"

"Upon my word, I forgot them," said Newman, laughing. "The people here
look very much alike."

"I suspect they have not forgotten you," said the marquis. And he began
to walk through the rooms. Newman, to keep near him in the crowd, took
his arm; after which for some time, the marquis walked straight
along, in silence. At last, reaching the farther end of the suite of
reception-rooms, Newman found himself in the presence of a lady of
monstrous proportions, seated in a very capacious arm-chair, with
several persons standing in a semicircle round her. This little group
had divided as the marquis came up, and M. de Bellegarde stepped forward
and stood for an instant silent and obsequious, with his hat raised to
his lips, as Newman had seen some gentlemen stand in churches as soon as
they entered their pews. The lady, indeed, bore a very fair likeness to
a reverend effigy in some idolatrous shrine. She was monumentally stout
and imperturbably serene. Her aspect was to Newman almost formidable; he
had a troubled consciousness of a triple chin, a small piercing eye, a
vast expanse of uncovered bosom, a nodding and twinkling tiara of plumes
and gems, and an immense circumference of satin petticoat. With her
little circle of beholders this remarkable woman reminded him of the Fat
Lady at a fair. She fixed her small, unwinking eyes at the new-comers.

"Dear duchess," said the marquis, "let me present you our good friend
Mr. Newman, of whom you have heard us speak. Wishing to make Mr. Newman
known to those who are dear to us, I could not possibly fail to begin
with you."

"Charmed, dear friend; charmed, monsieur," said the duchess in a voice
which, though small and shrill, was not disagreeable, while Newman
executed his obeisance. "I came on