"It is my regret, mam'selle, not to have the happiness of knowing who
you are, and it is not possible I ever may, unless you will have the
goodness to remove your mask."
"Ah! monsieur, what you request is impossible."
"Impossible! and why may I ask?"
"Because, were you to see my face, I should not have you for my partner
in the next dance; and to say the truth, I should regret that, since you
waltz so admirably."
"Oh! refusal and flattery in the same breath! No, mam'selle, I am sure
_your_ face will never be the means of your losing a partner. Come! let
me beg of you to remove that envious counterfeit. Let us converse
freely face to face. _I_ am not masked, as you see."
"In truth, sir, you have no reason to hide your face, which is more than
I can say for many other men in this room."
"Quick-witted milliner," thought I. "Bravo, Ranelagh! Vive la
Mabille!"
"Thanks, amiable masker!" I replied. "But you are too generous: you
flatter me--"
"It is worth while," rejoined she, interrupting me; "it improves your
cheek: blushes become you, ha, ha, ha!"
"The deuce!" I ejaculated, half aloud, "this _dame du Boulevard_ is
laughing at me!"
"But what _are_ you?" she continued, suddenly changing her tone. "You
are not a Mexican? Are you soldier or civilian?"
"What would you take me for?"
"A poet, from your pale face, but more from the manner in which I have
heard you sigh."
"I have not sighed since we sat down."
"No--but before we sat down."
"What! in the dance?"
"No--before the dance."
"Ha! then you observed me before?"
"O yes, your plain dress rendered you conspicuous among so many
uniforms; besides your manner--"
"What manner?" I asked, with some degree of confusion, fearing that in
my search after Isolina I had committed some stupid piece of
left-handedness.
"Four abstraction; and, by the way, had you not little _penchant_ for a
yellow domino?"
"A yellow domino?" repeated I, raising my hand to my head, as though it
cost me an effort to remember it--"a yellow domino?"
"Ay, ay--a ye-ll-ow dom-in-o," rejoined my companion, with sarcastic
emphasis--"a yellow domino, who waltzed with a young officer--not
bad-looking, by the way."
"Ah! I think I _do_ remember--"
"Well, I think you _ought_," rejoined my tormentor, "and well, too: you
took sufficient pains to _observe_."
"Ah--aw--yes," stammered I.
"I thought you were conning verses to her, and as you had not the
advantage of _seeing her face_, were making them to her feet!"
"Ha, ha!--what an idea of yours, mad'm'selle!"
"In the end, she was not ungenerous--she let you see the face."
"The devil!" exclaimed I, starting; "you saw the _denouement_, then?"
"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed she; "of course I saw the denouement, ha,
ha!--_drole_, wasn't it?"
"Very," replied I, not much relishing the joke, but endeavouring to join
my companion in the laugh.
"How silly the spark looked! Ha, ha!"
"Very silly, indeed. Ha, ha, ha!"
"And how disappointed--"
"Eh?"
"How disappointed _you_ looked, monsieur!"
"Oh--ah--I--no--I assure you--I had no interest in the affair. I was
not _disappointed_--at least not as you imagine."
"Ah!"
"The feeling uppermost in my mind was _pity_--pity for the poor girl."
"And you really _did_ pity her?"
This question was put with an earnestness that sounded somewhat strange
at the moment.
"I really did. The creature seemed so mortified--"
"She seemed mortified, did she?"
"Of course. She left the room immediately after, and has not returned
since. No doubt she has gone home, poor devil!"
"Poor devil! Is that the extent of your pity?"
"Well, after all, it must be confessed she was a superb deception: a
finer dancer I never saw--I beg pardon, I except my present partner--a
good foot, an elegant figure, and then to turn out--"
"What?"
"_Una negrilla_!"
"I fear, monsieur, you Americans are not very gallant towards the ladies
of colour. It is different here in Mexico, which you term _despotic_."