My friend did not find what he was looking for, the fact being that he was not actually looking for anything, or so I came to infer, and this was the selfsame situation in which many of the other guests found themselves. Admittedly, a few mothers were looking for their daughters, and a few husbands for their wives; yet not a single daughter was looking for her mother, nor a single wife for her husband. "They might have fallen asleep in one of the rooms amid all the confusion," they mused. “It is possible,” I said to myself, “though unlikely.”

A mask made a dash for me.

“Is that you?” it asked, mysteriously.
“It is I,” I rejoined, confident of uttering no lie.
“I recognized your domino, but tonight is impossible. Paquita is over there, but her husband has insisted on coming along. We cannot think how on earth he got hold of the tickets. What a great pity! Such an opportunity! We saw you and, not daring to speak to you herself, she sent me to say that she will see you at the Sartén tomorrow without fail. Crimson domino and white ribbons.”
“Very well.”
“Then you will be there?"
“Indeed I will.”
“And your wife, sir?” The mask, who wore a black domino and led another identical domino by the arm, was addressing an eccentric-looking character dressed entirely in little cornucopias.
“Sound asleep by now. Despite my best efforts, I could not persuade her to come. No one is more averse to a bit of fun than she.”
“Then you can depend on her virtue. Are you planning to be here all night?”
“No, until four.”
“Very wise.”
At this, the cornucopia figure moved on, and I overheard the following exchange:
"He didn’t suspect a thing.”
“How could he? Why, I didn’t leave home until an hour after he left.”
“At four, did he say?”
“Yes.”
“We have time. Can you be sure of the maid?”
“We have nothing to worry about, because...”

A surge of people severed the thread of my curiosity and whatever came next was drowned amid the murmur of voices repeating, “Do you know who I am?”, “I know who you are” and so on.

Surely it was my destiny — and a happier one than Quevedo’s, incidentally — to have brought along a domino identical to those worn by all the lovers that night, so that in the dark I looked exactly like any other domino anticipating an illicit liaison?

“Psst! Psst! I have found you at last,” said another, slender mask, clutching my arm and speaking in a voice that was tender and tremulous with satisfied expectations. “Have you been looking for me for long?”
“Actually, no, for I did not expect to find you.”