They were waiting for me. Pauline left a corner of the main parlour and came to meet me, followed by an elegantly dressed man, who at first sight attracted my attention.

A perfect blond, with soft expressive blue eyes, he was my protege for the evening and I introduced him according to the prescribed rules. He was received at once with boisterous acclamations.

The conversation of the Count, as he was called, had a rare charm that evening, and he spoke our language with great elegance.

In a few words I put him au courant with the few things he did not already know, and he gave me an idea to propose to the assembled party which seemed to me so amusing that I at once communicated it to the party. The ladies then surrounded Count Alexis and tendered him their congratulations.

It was some time since we had an entertainment and we were most grateful to the newcomer for the idea, which was as follows:

The next night there would be a ball and supper in full evening dress, and the ladies were to dress in gentlemen's attire. It was absolutely forbidden, however, for any one to wear trousers. A light gauze was the most that was allowed for the ladies' covering of the lower parts of the body. Everyone was to disguise his or her identity in the most ingenious manner possible and a mask was obligatory.

After arranging the details of the new entertainment, we separated and sat talking in groups and couples, the latter to give themselves up to the pleasure of fingering, almost always followed by a voluptuous coit in a little room next to the parlour.

CHAPTER THREE

The moment arrived at last to cross once more the threshold of the Hotel X-.

All day I had been as impatient as a child who had been promised to be taken to a play. I felt very queerly in my dress coat, with the tails flapping against my bare bottom, while my prick rose and fell as though it suspected that something unusual was going to happen.