ts for the occasion.

MDLLE. ROSALIE (_satirically_):--_Brava_, Honoria! What a woman of
business you are!

MDLLE. HONORIA (_affecting not to hear this observation_)--

"_Roses bloom in the fourth, and your secret, my dear,
Which you whispered so softly just now in my ear,
I repeat word for word for the others to hear_."

Marie said to me.... _Tiens_! Marie, don't pull my dress in that way.
You shouldn't have said it, you know, if it won't bear repeating! Marie
said to me that she could have either Monsieur Mueller or Monsieur
Lenoir, by only holding up her finger--but she couldn't make up her mind
which she liked best.

MDLLE. MARIE (_half crying_):--Nay, Honoria--how can you be so--so
unkind ... so spiteful? I--I did not say I could have either M'sieur
Mueller or... or...

M. LENOIR (_with great spirit and good breeding_):--Whether Mademoiselle
used those words or not is of very little importance. The fact remains
the same; and is as old as the world. Beauty has but to will and
to conquer.

MULLER:--Order in the circle! The game waits for Mademoiselle Marie.

MARIE (_hesitatingly_):--

"_Roses bloom in the fourth, and your secret_"

M'sieur Lenoir said that--that he admired the color of my dress, and
that blue became me more than lilac.

MULLER: (_coldly_)--_Pardon_, Mademoiselle, but I happened to overhear
what Monsieur Lenoir whispered just now, and those were not his words.
Monsieur Lenoir said, "Look in"... but perhaps Mademoiselle would prefer
me not to repeat more?

MARIE--(_in great confusion_):--As--as you please, M'sieur.

MULLER:--Then, Mademoiselle, I will be discreet, and I will not even
impose a forfeit upon you, as I might do, by the laws of the game. It is
for Monsieur Lenoir to continue.

M. LENOIR:--I do not remember what Monsieur Mueller whispered to me at
the close of the last round.

MULLER (_pointedly_):--_Pardon,_ Monsieur, I should have thought that
scarcely possible.

M. LENOIR:--It was perfectly unintelligible, and therefore left no
impression on my memory.

MULLER:--Permit me, then, to have the honor of assisting your memory. I
said to you--"Monsieur, if I believed that any modest young woman of my
acquaintance was in danger of being courted by a man of doubtful
character, do you know what I would do? I would hunt that man down with
as little remorse as a ferret hunts down a rat in a drain."

M. LENOIR:--The sentiment does you honor, Monsieur; but I