arly wished to be invited to Mademoiselle
Hulot's wedding. To enable him to receive his future mistress in his
drawing-room, the great official was obliged to invite all the clerks of
his division down to the deputy head-clerks inclusive. Thus a grand ball
was a necessity. The Baroness, as a prudent housewife, calculated that
an evening party would cost less than a dinner, and allow of a larger
number of invitations; so Hortense's wedding was much talked about.

Marshal Prince Wissembourg and the Baron de Nucingen signed in behalf of
the bride, the Comtes de Rastignac and Popinot in behalf of Steinbock.
Then, as the highest nobility among the Polish emigrants had been
civil to Count Steinbock since he had become famous, the artist thought
himself bound to invite them. The State Council, and the War Office to
which the Baron belonged, and the army, anxious to do honor to the Comte
de Forzheim, were all represented by their magnates. There were nearly
two hundred indispensable invitations. How natural, then, that little
Madame Marneffe was bent on figuring in all her glory amid such an
assembly. The Baroness had, a month since, sold her diamonds to set up
her daughter's house, while keeping the finest for the trousseau. The
sale realized fifteen thousand francs, of which five thousand were
sunk in Hortense's clothes. And what was ten thousand francs for the
furniture of the young folks' apartment, considering the demands of
modern luxury? However, young Monsieur and Madame Hulot, old Crevel, and
the Comte de Forzheim made very handsome presents, for the old
soldier had set aside a sum for the purchase of plate. Thanks to these
contributions, even an exacting Parisian would have been pleased with
the rooms the young couple had taken in the Rue Saint-Dominique, near
the Invalides. Everything seemed in harmony with their love, pure,
honest, and sincere.

At last the great day dawned--for it was to be a great day not only for
Wenceslas and Hortense, but for old Hulot too. Madame Marneffe was to
give a house-warming in her new apartment the day after becoming Hulot's
mistress _en titre_, and after the marriage of the lovers.

Who but has once in his life been a guest at a wedding-ball? Every
reader can refer to his reminiscences, and will probably smile as he
calls up the images of all that company in their Sunday-best faces as
well as their finest frippery.

If any social event can prove the influence of environment, is it