Page:In a Glass Darkly - v2.djvu/186



CHAPTER XVIXV [sic].

STRANGE STORY OF THE DRAGON VOLANT.

HESE fêtes were earlier in those days, and in France, than our modern balls are in London. I consulted my watch. It was a little past twelve.

It was a still and sultry night; the magnificent suite of rooms, vast as some of them were, could not be kept at a temperature less than oppressive, especially to people with masks on. In some places the crowd was inconvenient, and the profusion of lights added to the heat. I removed my mask,