he corner of the stage. If the
chain were to break?"

"Talking of broken chains--there's little Mme. de Blinville, who is no
tigress. Do you see her in the second tier, opposite?"

"It becomes her very well to have broken, as you say, the marriage chain;
she looks very well this season."

"Oh! there is the beautiful Duchess de Saint-Prix; all the world is here
to-night--I don't speak of ourselves."

"It is a regular opera night--what a festive scene!"

"Well, after all, people do well to amuse themselves, perhaps it will not
be for long."

"Why so?"

"Suppose the cholera were to come to Paris?"

"Oh! nonsense!"

"Do you believe in the cholera?"

"To be sure I do! He's coming from the North, with his walking-stick
under his arm."

"The devil take him on the road! don't let us see his green visage here."

"They say he's at London."

"A pleasant journey to him."

"Come, let us talk of something else; it may be a weakness, if you
please, but I call this a dull subject."

"I believe you."

"Oh! gentlemen--I am not mistaken--no--it is she!"

"Who, then?"

"Mdlle. de Cardoville! She is coming into the stage-box with Morinval and
his wife. It is a complete resuscitation: this morning on the
Champs-Elysees; in the evening here."

"Faith, you are right! It is Mdlle. de Cardoville."

"Good heaven! how lovely she is!"

"Lend me your eyeglass."

"Well, what do you think of her?"

"Exquisite--dazzling."

"And in addition to her beauty, an inexhaustible flow of wit, three
hundred thousand francs a year, high birth, eighteen years of age,
and--free as air."

"Yes, that is to say, that, provided it pleased her, I might be to
morrow--or even to-day--the happiest of men."

"It is enough to turn one's brain."

"I am told that her mansion, Rue d'Anjou, is like an enchanted palace; a
great deal is said about a bath-room and bedroom, worthy of the Arabian
Nights."

"And free as air--I come back to that."

"Ah! if I were in her place!"

"My levity would be quite shocking."

"Oh! gentlemen, what a happy man will he be who is loved first!"

"You think, then, that she will have many lovers?"

"Being as free as air--"

"All the boxes are full, except the stage-box opposite to that in which
Mdlle. de Cardoville is seated. Happy the occupiers of that box!"

"Did you see the English ambassador's lady in the dress circle?"

"And the Princess d'Alvimar--what an enormous bouquet!"

"I should like to kn