bills at once, but ply the
purchaser with furniture till his head spins. Everything is so pretty,
so charming; and every one is satisfied.

A few months later the obliging furniture dealers are metamorphosed, and
reappear in the shape of alarming totals on invoices that fill the soul
with their horrid clamor; they are in urgent want of the money; they
are, as you may say on the brink of bankruptcy, their tears flow, it
is heartrending to hear them! And then----the gulf yawns, and gives up
serried columns of figures marching four deep, when as a matter of fact
they should have issued innocently three by three.

Before Castanier had any idea of how much he had spent, he had arranged
for Aquilina to have a carriage from a livery stable when she went out,
instead of a cab. Castanier was a gourmand; he engaged an excellent
cook; and Aquilina, to please him, had herself made the purchases of
early fruit and vegetables, rare delicacies, and exquisite wines. But,
as Aquilina had nothing of her own, these gifts of hers, so precious by
reason of the thought and tact and graciousness that prompted them, were
no less a drain upon Castanier's purse; he did not like his Naqui to
be without money, and Naqui could not keep money in her pocket. So the
table was a heavy item of expenditure for a man with Castanier's income.
The ex-dragoon was compelled to resort to various shifts for obtaining
money, for he could not bring himself to renounce this delightful life.
He loved the woman too well to cross the freaks of the mistress. He
was one of those men who, through self-love or through weakness of
character, can refuse nothing to a woman; false shame overpowers them,
and they rather face ruin than make the admissions: "I cannot----" "My
means will not permit----" "I cannot afford----"

When, therefore, Castanier saw that if he meant to emerge from the abyss
of debt into which he had plunged, he must part with Aquilina and live
upon bread and water, he was so unable to do without her or to change
his habits of life, that daily he put off his plans of reform until the
morrow. The debts were pressing, and he began by borrowing money. His
position and previous character inspired confidence, and of this he took
advantage to devise a system of borrowing money as he required it. Then,
as the total amount of debt rapidly increased, he had recourse to those
commercial inventions known as accommodation bills. This form of bill
does not represent