"That invitation I just received—"
"Well, what of it?"
"Was all your work."
"Mine?"
"Yes, you said to yourself, 'This poor Ernestine must, at least, dance twice during the evening. Everybody is not as kind-hearted as M. Olivier, but I am queen here, and I will give orders to one of my subjects.'"
But just then Queen Herminie's subject came to say that the quadrille was forming.
"Good-bye, Madame Sybil," exclaimed Herminie, shaking her finger threateningly at Mlle. de Beaumesnil. "I'll teach you not to be so proud of your wonderful powers of divination."
The young girl had scarcely walked away with her partner before Olivier came up, and, seating himself beside the duchess, said:
"Who is that young girl I just danced with?"
"An orphan who supports herself by her embroidery, M. Olivier, and who is not very happy, I think, for you can not imagine the touching way in which she thanked me for my attention this evening. It was this that made us friends so quickly, for I never saw her until to-night."