the rooms, and allowed no one to enter without showing his face and ticket and giving his name. Agents in disguise went about, and a battalion of the guard furnished sentries to every exit. These precautions, however, were so well managed by Duroc that, once in the room, the guests were unconscious of any supervision."
It was at one of these balls that poor Marbot was almost ruined by an importunate and accidental acquaintance. Madame X, the widow of an official, thought that her pension was insufficient, and, having made vain application to all the other members of the Imperial family, she resolved finally to get at the Emperor himself. By an oversight she managed to make her way to the masked ball:
"The ball was on the ground-floor, card-tables being on that above; when I entered, the quadrilles were going on, and a crowd was gazing at the magnificent costumes. Suddenly, in the midst of the silk, velvet, feathers, and embroideries, appeared a colossal female figure, clad in plain white calico, with red corset, and bedizened with coloured ribbons in the worst taste. This was Madame X, who had found no better way of displaying her magnificent hair than dressing as a shepherdess, with a little straw hat over one ear, and two large tresses down to her heels. Her curious get-up, and the strange simplicity of the dress in which she appeared in
