There was a rustle of silk close to his ear. Rosanette touched him.
It was through Frederick himself that she had learned about this auction. When her first feelings of vexation was over, the idea of deriving profit from it occurred to her mind. She had come to see it in a white satin vest with pearl buttons, a furbelowed gown, tight-fitting gloves on her hands, and a look of triumph on her face.
He grew pale with anger. She stared at the woman who was by his side.[308]
Madame Dambreuse had recognised her, and for a minute they examined each other from head to foot minutely, in order to discover the defect, the blemish—the one perhaps envying the other’s youth, and the other filled with spite at the extreme good form, the aristocratic simplicity of her rival.
At last Madame Dambreuse t
