"Because I had not my blue silk frock with lace, that I wear at the balls at Wiesbaden and Spa. I can dance, you know, papa taught me; but not in this old frock, and I left my other at Spa."
"And what were your other reasons?" asked Graham, wondering more and more at the small specimen of humanity before him.
"Oh! because the room here is so small and crowded. At Wiesbaden there are rooms large—so large—quite like this courtyard," extending her small arms by way of giving expression to her vague sense of grandeur; "and looking- glasses all round, and crimson sofas, and gold chandeliers, and ladies in such beautiful dresses, and officers who danced with me. I don't know any one here."
"And who were the Count and the Prince you were talking about to Mademoiselle Sophie in the garden this morning?"
Madelon looked disconcerted.
"I shan't tell you," she said, hanging down her head.
"Will you not? Not if I want to know very much?"
She hesitated a moment, then burst forth—
"Well, then, they were just nobody at all. I was only talking make-believe to Sophie, that she might do the steps properly."
"Oh! then, you did not expect to see them here this evening?"