"
"You describe my object unfairly," I objected. "I can't admit that I
proposed speaking to any lady in the tone you describe."
"Well, I shan't insist on that; only if I name the lady, you will
promise to admit that I am right."
"_Must_ I promise?"
"Certainly not, there is no compulsion; but your promise is the only
condition on which I will speak to you again."
I hesitated for a moment; but how could she possibly tell? The Countess
would scarcely have admitted this little romance to anyone; and the mask
in the La Valliere costume could not possibly know who the masked domino
beside her was.
"I consent," I said, "I promise."
"You must promise on the honor of a gentleman."
"Well, I do; on the honor of a gentleman."
"Then this lady is the Countess de St. Alyre."
I was unspeakably surprised; I was disconcerted; but I remembered my
promise, and said:
"The Countess de St. Alyre _is_, unquestionably, the lady to whom I
hoped for an introduction tonight; but I beg to assure you, also on the
honor of a gentleman, that she has not the faintest imaginable suspicion
that I was seeking such an honor, nor, in all probability, does she
remember that such a person as I exists. I had the honor to render her
and the Count a trifling service, too trifling, I fear, to have earned
more than an hour's recollection.
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