To most American readers of fiction M. Ludovic Halvy is known chiefly, if not solely, as the author of that most charming of French novels, "The Abb Constantin." The novel had the rare good fortune of pleasing at once the broad public of indiscriminate readers of fiction and the narrower circle of real lovers of literature. Halvy had a very real gift -- and this collection, like "The Abb Constantin" -- shows it in full flower, including such delightful Halvy tales as "Only a Waltz," "The Dancing-Master," "The Circus Charger," "Blacky," "The Most Beautiful Woman in Paris," "The Story of a Ball-Dress," "The Insurgent," "The Chinese Ambassador," and "In the Express."