Helene stooped forward to make room, and looked round with a smile.

She was, as always at evening parties, wearing a dress such as was then fashionable, cut very low at front and back.

Her bust, which had always seemed like marble to Pierre, was so close to him that his shortsighted eyes could not but perceive the living charm of her neck and shoulders, so near to his lips that he need only have bent his head a little to have touched them.

He was conscious of the warmth of her body, the scent of perfume, and the creaking of her corset as she moved.