How glad we were to be alone again! We had plenty to laugh about, as we passed in review the original creatures whom we had met; and although my wife is not malicious, she was fully alive to the absurdities of the company.
We had promised to attend the ball, so we had no choice but to go; moreover, it was impossible that it should be so dreary a function as the breakfast; and then it was to take place in the same salons in which we had given ours, and we were not sorry to see them once more.
We went late, because we hoped to find the dancing well under way; but we were surprised to find the salons almost empty, and only two quadrilles in progress, so that everybody had plenty of room to dance. And yet it was after eleven o’clock.
Bélan came to meet us. His face was a yard long, and he said to me:
“It is most annoying: my mother-in-law would not allow me to invite more than thirty people; for she said that, with her family and acquaintances, that would be quite enough; and you see how much empty space there is. I am aware that the party is very select, but a few more people would do no harm.”
“One result, my dear Bélan, is that it is much more comfortable to dance.”
“Yes, that is so; the dancers will gain by it.”
“And madame is no longer ill?”
“No, that didn’t last. But now it is my mother-in-law’s turn to have fits of suffocation. Just look at her eyes; she’s a regular rabbit; she makes me sick. She is crying now because my wife dances every contradance; she declares that her daughter will be killed. Great heaven, what an emotional creature she is!”
“But I don’t see the Giraud family here, and that surprises me, for of course you invited them?”