Carnival ball the
shops in the Avenue de la Gare are all open, and the dresses necessary
for the ball are still displayed. Therefore, having put the car into the
garage again, I purchased a pierrot's kit similar to that worn by the
reveller, a black velvet _loup_, or mask, put them on in the shop, and
then walked along to the Casino.

I need not tell you of the ball, of the wild antics of the revellers
of both sexes, of the games of leap-frog played by the men, of the
great rings of dancers, joining hand in hand, or of the beautiful effect
of the two shades of colour seen everywhere. It has been described a
hundred times. Moreover, I had not gone there to dance, I was there to
watch, and if possible to speak with the man who had so gaily sung "La
Noire" among the smart, aristocratic crowd on the Jetee.

But in that great crowd, with nearly everyone wearing their masks, it
was impossible to recognise him. The only part I recollected that was
peculiar about him was that he had a white ruffle around his neck,
instead of a mauve or green one, and it occurred to me that on entering
the masters of the ceremonies would compel him to remove it as being
against the rules to wear anything but the colours laid down by the
committee.

I was looking for a pierrot without a ruffle, and my search was long and
in vain.

Till near midnight I went among that mad crowd, but could not recognise
him. He might, I reflected, be by that hour in such a state of
intoxication as to be unable to come to the ball at all.

Suddenly, however, as I was brushing past two masked dancers who were
standing chatting at one of the doors leading from the Casino into the
theatre where the ball was in progress, one of them exclaimed with a
French accent--

"Hulloa, Ewart!"

"Hulloa!" I replied, for I had removed my mask for a few moments because
of the heat. "Who are you?"

"'The President,'" he responded in a low voice, and I knew that it was
Henri Regnier.

"You're the very man I want to see. Come over here, and let's talk."

Both of us moved away into a corner of the Casino where it was
comparatively quiet, and Regnier removed his mask, declaring that the
heat was stifling.

"Look here," he said in a tone of confidence, "I want to know--I'm very
interested to know--how you became acquainted with little Pierrette
Dumont. I hear you've been about with her all day."

"How did you know?" I asked.

"I was told," he laughed. "I find out things I