and I'll send you an invitation before dinner,"
rejoined Madame D'Anville.

"I lodge," said I, "at the Hotel de--, Rue de Rivoli, au second at
present; next year, I suppose, according to the usual gradations in the
life of a garcon, I shall be au troisieme: for here the purse and the
person seem to be playing at see-saw--the latter rises as the former
descends."

We went on conversing for about a quarter of an hour, in which I
endeavoured to make the pretty Frenchwoman believe that all the good
opinion I possessed of myself the day before, I had that morning
entirely transferred to her account.

As I rode home I met Mr. Aberton, with three or four other men; with
that glaring good-breeding, so peculiar to the English, he instantly
directed their eyes towards me in one mingled and concentrated stare.
"N'importe," thought I, "they must be devilish clever fellows if they
can find a single fault either in my horse or myself."

CHAPTER XI.

Lud! what a group the motley scene discloses, False wits, false wives,
false virgins, and false spouses.--Goldsmith's Epilogue to the Comedy
of the Sisters.

Madame D'Anville kept her promise--the invitation was duly sent, and
accordingly at half past ten to the Rue D'Anjou I drove.

The rooms were already full. Lord Bennington was standing by the door,
and close by him, looking exceedingly distrait, was my old friend Lord
Vincent. They both came towards me at the same moment. "Strive not,"
thought I, looking at the stately demeanour of the one, and the
humourous expression of countenance in the other--"strive not, Tragedy
nor Comedy, to engross a Garrick." I spoke first to Lord Bennington, for
I knew he would be the sooner dispatched, and then for the next quarter
of an hour found myself overflowed with all the witticisms poor Lord
Vincent had for days been obliged to retain. I made an engagement to
dine with him at Very's the next day, and then glided off towards Madame
D'Anville.

She was surrounded with men, and talking to each with that vivacity
which, in a Frenchwoman, is so graceful, and in an Englishwoman would
be so vulgar. Though her eyes were not directed towards me, she saw me
approach by that instinctive perception which all coquets possess, and
suddenly altering her seat, made way for me beside her. I did not lose
so favourable an opportunity of gaining her good graces, and losing
those of all the male animals around her. I sunk down on the vacant
chair, an