“Nor I. It is a face which gives no indication that the least shadow of sorrow has ever crossed it. It is beauty as serene as a landscape or as the sea when calm. Moreover, that very perfection robs it of character. It seems to be less a human face than a symbol of an apathetic being and an apathetic beauty.”
“We have found her defect,” said Mlle. Cadet.
After introducing her friend to the ladies and to the young men, who were all dazzled, the Countess Brenda sat down near Mme. Dawson, in an antique arm-chair.
She was imposing.
“You look like a queen holding audience,” Mlle. de Sandoval said to her.
“Your beloved is like an actual monument,” Mlle. Cadet murmured jokingly, aside to Cæsar.
“Yes, I think we ought to station a veteran at the door,” retorted Cæsar.
“A veteran! No, for mercy’s sake! Poor lady! A warrior in active service, one on whom all the antipyrine in the world would make no impression,” Mlle. Cadet replied maliciously.
Cæsar smiled at the allusion.
SILENO MACARRONI