e of these things
to Bellegarde. One reason was that before proceeding to any act he was
always circumspect, conjectural, contemplative; he had little eagerness,
as became a man who felt that whenever he really began to move he
walked with long steps. And then, it simply pleased him not to speak--it
occupied him, it excited him. But one day Bellegarde had been dining
with him, at a restaurant, and they had sat long over their dinner. On
rising from it, Bellegarde proposed that, to help them through the
rest of the evening, they should go and see Madame Dandelard. Madame
Dandelard was a little Italian lady who had married a Frenchman who
proved to be a rake and a brute and the torment of her life. Her husband
had spent all her money, and then, lacking the means of obtaining more
expensive pleasures, had taken, in his duller hours, to beating her.
She had a blue spot somewhere, which she showed to several persons,
including Bellegarde. She had obtained a separation from her husband,
collected the scraps of her fortune (they were very meagre) and come to
live in Paris, where she was staying at a hotel garni. She was always
looking for an apartment, and visiting, inquiringly, those of other
people. She was very pretty, very childlike, and she made very
extraordinary remarks. Bellegarde had made her acquaintance, and the
source of his interest in her was, according to his own declaration, a
curiosity as to what would become of her. "She is poor, she is pretty,
and she is silly," he said, "it seems to me she can go only one way.
It's a pity, but it can't be helped. I will give her six months. She has
nothing to fear from me, but I am watching the process. I am curious to
see just how things will go. Yes, I know what you are going to say: this
horrible Paris hardens one's heart. But it quickens one's wits, and it
ends by teaching one a refinement of observation! To see this little
woman's little drama play itself out, now, is, for me, an intellectual
pleasure."

"If she is going to throw herself away," Newman had said, "you ought to
stop her."

"Stop her? How stop her?"

"Talk to her; give her some good advice."

Bellegarde laughed. "Heaven deliver us both! Imagine the situation! Go
and advise her yourself."

It was after this that Newman had gone with Bellegarde to see Madame
Dandelard. When they came away, Bellegarde reproached his companion.
"Where was your famous advice?" he asked. "I didn't hear a word of it."

"O