He led his conquest to the quadrille in which the most brilliant women
in the room made it a point of chimerical importance to dance in
preference to any other. While the orchestra played the introductory
bars to the first figure, the Baron felt it an incredible
gratification to his pride to perceive, as he reviewed the ladies
forming the lines of that formidable square, that Madame de Soulanges'
dress might challenge that even of Madame de Vaudremont, who, by a
chance not perhaps unsought, was standing with Montcornet /vis-a-vis/
to himself and the lady in blue. All eyes were for a moment turned on
Madame de Soulanges; a flattering murmur showed that she was the
subject of every man's conversation with his partner. Looks of
admiration and envy centered on her, with so much eagerness that the
young creature, abashed by a triumph she seemed to disclaim, modestly
looked down, blushed, and was all the more charming. When she raised
her white eyelids it was to look at her ravished partner as though she
wished to transfer the glory of this admiration to him, and to say
that she cared more for his than for all the rest.
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