enough here," he continued, affecting a cold
selfishness to gain his ends, "it makes no difference to me whether I
spend my time and travel for the benefit of a suffering fellow-creature,
or waste it in Paris on some nonsense or other. It is very, very seldom
that a cure is completed in these complaints, for they require constant
care, time, and patience, and, above all things, money. Travel is
needed, and a punctilious following out of prescriptions, by no means
unpleasant, and varied daily. Two _gentlemen_" (laying a stress on
the word in its English sense) "can understand each other. I give you
warning that if you accept my proposal, you shall be a judge of my
conduct at every moment. I will do nothing without consulting you,
without your superintendence, and I will answer for the success of my
method if you will consent to follow it. Yes, unless you wish to be Mme.
d'Aiglemont's husband no longer, and that before long," he added in the
Marquis' ear.

The Marquis laughed. "One thing is certain--that only an Englishman
could make me such an extraordinary proposal," he said. "Permit me to
leave it unaccepted and unrejected. I will think it over; and my wife
must be consulted first in any case."

Julie had returned to the piano. This time she sang a song from
_Semiramide, Son regina, son guerriera_, and the whole room applauded, a
stifled outburst of wellbred acclamation which proved that the Faubourg
Saint-Germain had been roused to enthusiasm by her singing.

The evening was over. D'Aiglemont brought his wife home, and Julie
saw with uneasy satisfaction that her first attempt had at once been
successful. Her husband had been roused out of indifference by the part
which she had played, and now he meant to honor her with such a passing
fancy as he might bestow upon some opera nymph. It amused Julie that
she, a virtuous married woman, should be treated thus. She tried to play
with her power, but at the outset her kindness broke down once more, and
she received the most terrible of all the lessons held in store for her
by fate.

Between two and three o'clock in the morning Julie sat up, sombre and
moody, beside her sleeping husband, in the room dimly lighted by the
flickering lamp. Deep silence prevailed. Her agony of remorse had lasted
near an hour; how bitter her tears had been none perhaps can realize
save women who have known such an experience as hers. Only such natures
as Julie's can feel her loathing for a calc