“You have been talking to Madame Van Decken the whole evening,” she said.
William, having advanced beside her chair, waited, without any show of interest, for the Princess to enlarge on her remark.
“Madame Van Decken is quite the plainest lady in the room.”
“Is she?”
Amalia of Solms half laughed.
“Why, she squints!”
“Yes, I noticed that,” answered William; “but she is very intelligent.”
The Princess looked at him in a half troubled way.
“At your age!” she exclaimed. “There are half a hundred ladies awaiting your request for a dance——”
“I shall not dance at all,” he interrupted. “What are we here for, Madame? Merely to grace M. de Witt’s triumph.”