Page 813 - vanity-fair

brilliancy of the latter had quite eclipsed her. All voices were
for her. Stephens, Caradori, Ronzi de Begnis, people com-
pared her to one or the other, and agreed with good reason,
very likely, that had she been an actress none on the stage
could have surpassed her. She had reached her culmination:
her voice rose trilling and bright over the storm of applause,
and soared as high and joyful as her triumph. There was
a ball after the dramatic entertainments, and everybody
pressed round Becky as the great point of attraction of the
evening. The Royal Personage declared with an oath that
she was perfection, and engaged her again and again in con-
versation. Little Becky’s soul swelled with pride and delight
at these honours; she saw fortune, fame, fashion before her.
Lord Steyne was her slave, followed her everywhere, and
scarcely spoke to any one in the room beside, and paid her
the most marked compliments and attention. She still ap-
peared in her Marquise costume and danced a minuet with
Monsieur de Truffigny, Monsieur Le Duc de la Jabotiere’s
attache; and the Duke, who had all the traditions of the an-
cient court, pronounced that Madame Crawley was worthy
to have been a pupil of Vestris, or to have figured at Ver-
sailles. Only a feeling of dignity, the gout, and the strongest
sense of duty and personal sacrifice prevented his Excellen-
cy from dancing with her himself, and he declared in public
that a lady who could talk and dance like Mrs. Rawdon was
fit to be ambassadress at any court in Europe. He was only
consoled when he heard that she was half a Frenchwoman
by birth. ‘None but a compatriot,’ his Excellency declared,
‘could have performed that majestic dance in such a way.’

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