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Cries rang out on all sides: "Ah, perhaps he is the last-watch,

watch, you young men-perhaps he is the last who can lead the

polonaise in such fashion!" And the couples followed one another

merrily and uproariously; the circle would disperse and then

contract once more! As when an immense serpent twines into a

thousand folds, so there was seen a perpetual change amid the

gay, parti-coloured garments of the ladies, the gentlemen, and

the soldiers, like glittering scales gilded by the beams of the

western sun and relieved against the dark pillows of turf. Brisk

was the dance and loud the music, the applause, and the drinking

of healths.