Hearing from his foreign correspondents of two women who had made
successful first appearances, one at Milan and one at Florence,
he had arranged to visit those cities, and to judge of the merits
of the dancers for himself, before he joined the bride and bridegroom.
His widowed sister, having friends at Florence whom she was anxious
to see, readily accompanied him. The Montbarrys remained at Paris,
until it was time to present themselves at the family meeting in Venice.
Henry found them still in the French capital, when he arrived from London
on his way to the opening of the new hotel.
Against Lady Montbarry's advice, he took the opportunity of
renewing his addresses to Agnes. He could hardly have chosen
a more unpropitious time for pleading his cause with her.
The gaieties of Paris (quite incomprehensibly to herself as well
as to everyone about her) had a depressing effect on her spirits.
She had no illness to complain of; she shared willingly in the ever-varying
succession of amusements offered to strangers by the ingenuity
of the liveliest people in the world--but nothing roused her:
she remained persistently dull and weary through it all.
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