PARIS THE PLACE FOR WIVES. 259 



to see her to advantage, he should bring her certainly 

 to Paris. But what again seemed equally odd was 

 that, though the backs of my male friends were 

 towards me, the faces of their ladies looked at me, 

 and not one seemed to recognise my expectant 

 glances. 



*^ Well," I said, " they've cut me, so I will think 

 only of my dinner." 



Could I have been mistaken in the identity of the 

 more distantgentleman, — perhaps I might ! " Gar^on," 

 I said, calling the waiter to me, *^ is that an English 

 gentleman or a French gentleman there ? " I said in 

 an under tone, nodding my head to a man's back I 

 thought myself very well acquainted with. 



'' Oh ! " said the gar^on, " he dines here frequently 

 — no Englishman, he is French, I know him very 

 well." 



" Well then," I muttered, '^ all I can say is, I 

 could have sworn that he had been so-and-so " — No, 

 reader! you don't catch me letting out who he was : 

 I took the hint from the discreet gar^on, who must 

 have known the contrary to what he told me. Well, 

 I went on with my dinner, speculating on this man's 

 back, and every now and then looking full at his 

 pretty companion ; when suddenly he caught my 

 face in the looking-glass on the wall opposite to which 



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