'
"Again I danced, and I can not tell you with what anxiety and
desperation--for there must be an end to it before long, and your
peril, Robert, come again, unless these rough fellows changed their
minds. Moment after moment went, and though I had danced beyond
reasonable limits, I still seemed to get new strength, as I have
heard men say, in fighting, they 'come to their second wind.' At
last, at the end of the most famous step that Jamond had taught me,
I stood still for a moment to renewed applause; and I must have
wound these men up to excitement beyond all sense, for they would
not be dissuaded, but swarmed towards the dais where I was, and
some called for me to remove my mask.
"Then the Intendant came down among them, bidding them stand
back, and himself stepped towards me. I felt affrighted, for I
liked not the look in his eyes, and so, without a word, I stepped
down from the dais--I did not dare to speak, lest they should
recognize my voice--and made for the door with as much dignity as
I might. But the Intendant came to me with a mannered courtesy,
and said in my ear, 'Madame, you have won all our hearts; I would
you might accept some hospitality--a glass of wine, a wing of
partridge, in a room where none shall disturb you?' I shuddered,
and passed on.
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