"By what do you recognize me?"
"By your voice, your grace, and your beauty."
"My voice, perhaps; I cannot disguise it. My grace; I may appropriate the compliment; but as for my beauty, it is veiled."
"It was less so, madame, on the day when, to bring you into Paris, I held you so near to me that your breast touched my shoulders, and I felt your breath on my neck."
"Then, on the receipt of my letter, you guessed that it came from me?"
"Oh! no, madame, not for a moment; I believed I was the subject of some joke, or the victim of some error, and it is only during the last few minutes that, seeing you, touching you—" and he tried to take her hand, but she withdrew it.
"Enough!" said the lady; "the fact is, that I have committed a great folly."
"In what, madame?"
"In what? You say that you know me, and then ask."
"Oh! it is true, madame, that I am very insignificant and obscure near your highness."