CHAPTER IV

While the ensnared conspirators against the state were receiving sentence in one district of Paris, in another district the inhabitants were entertaining themselves.

Paris does not mourn very long.  Paris is like the earth:  one half of it is always illumined by the sun.  On this fateful evening the incroyables and the merveilleuses were amusing themselves within the walls of the Palace of Narcissus.

The members of Cythera’s Brigade took great pains to make outsiders believe that they never troubled themselves about that half of the world which was in shadow—­that half called politics.

In the salon of the fascinating Countess Themire Dealba not a word was heard relating to affairs of state.  The beautiful women who were banded together to learn the secrets which threatened the present order of government worked in an imperceptible manner.  They did not belong to the ordinary class of spies—­those who collect every ill-natured word, every trifling occurrence of the street.  No, indeed! They did nothing but amuse themselves.  They were merry society women, trusty friends and confidantes.  They moved in the best circles; no one ever saw them exchange a word with a police commissioner.  If any one in the company happened to speak of anything even remotely connected with politics, some one quickly changed the subject to a more innocent theme; and if a stranger chanced to mention so delicate a matter as, say, the dinner which had been given by the emperor’s nephew at Very’s, which cost seventy-five thousand francs, while forty thousand laborers were starving, then the witty Countess Themire herself turned the conversation to the “toilet rivalry” between the Mesdames Tallien and Recamier.

On this particular evening the Countess Dealba was discussing the beauties of the latest opera with a few of her most intimate friends, when the Marquis de Fervlans approached, and, bending over her, whispered:  “I must see you alone; find an opportunity to leave the room, and join me in the conservatory.”

At that time it was the fashion to clothe children in garments similar to those worn by their elders.  A company of little ones, therefore, looked like an assemblage of Lilliputian merveilleuses and incroyables.  The little men and women also accompanied their mamas to receptions and the theatre, where they joined in the conversation, danced vis-a-vis with their elders, made witty remarks, criticized the toilets and the play, gave an opinion as to whether Hardy’s confections or those of Riches were the better, and if it were safe to depend on the friendship of the Czar Alexander.

In this company of little ones the Countess Amelie was, beyond a doubt, the most conspicuous.

One could not have imagined anything more interesting or entertaining than the manner of this miniature dame when left by her mama to do the honors of the house.  The dignity with which the child performed her duties was enchanting.  She understood perfectly how to entertain her mother’s guests, how to spice her conversation with piquant anecdotes, how to mimic the manner of affected personages.  She was, in a word, a prodigy!