La duchesse organisa des soirées charmantes au palais, qui n’avait jamais vu tant de gaieté ; jamais elle ne fut plus aimable que cet hiver, et pourtant elle vécut au milieu des plus grands dangers ; mais aussi, pendant cette saison critique, il ne lui arriva pas deux fois de songer avec un certain degré de malheur à l’étrange changement de Fabrice.
The Duchessa arranged a series of charming evenings at the Palace, which had never seen such gaiety: never had she been more delightful than during this winter, and yet she was living in the midst of the greatest dangers; but at the same time, during this critical period, it so happened that she did not think twice with any appreciable regret of the strange alteration in Fabrizio.