THE party at the Salon of Madame P. was very merry. The room was crowded with scientists, artists and literary figures such as Alexandre Dumas the author of The Count of Monte Cristo; the critic Alphonse Karr, the entomologist Hyppolyte Lucas, the dramatist Etienne Arago, Madam Melanie Waldor and the pretty Comtesse de Renville. They wore the appropriate beautiful and dashing costumes to dance or to perform the mazurka in pairs.

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