ke care!" he exclaimed; "take
care!"

But his rage speedily subsided, and with his usual indifferent manner,
and in a bantering tone, he said: "Well, what of that? Do you fancy that
the world doesn't already suspect what you could reveal? People have
suspected me of being even worse than I am. When you proclaim on the
housetops that I am an adventurer, folks will only laugh at you, and I
shall be none the worse for it. A matter that would crush a dozen men
like Pascal Ferailleur would not injure me in the least. I am accustomed
to it. I must have luxury and enjoyment, everything that is pleasant and
beautiful--and to procure all this, I do my very best. It is true that
I don't derive my income from my estate in Brie; but I have plenty of
money, and that is the essential thing. Besides, it is so difficult to
earn a livelihood nowadays, and the love of luxury is so intense that
no one knows at night what he may do--or, rather, what he won't do--the
next day. And last, but not least, the people who ought to be despised
are so numerous that contempt is an impossibility. A Parisian who
happened to be so absurdly pretentious as to refuse to shake hands with
such of his acquaintances as were not irreproachable characters, might
walk for hours on the Boulevards without finding an occasion to take his
hands out of his pockets."

M. de Coralth talked well enough, and yet, in point of fact, all this
was sheer bravado on his part. He knew better than any one else, on what
a frail and uncertain basis his brilliant existence was established.
Certainly, society does show great indulgence to people of doubtful
reputation. It shuts its eyes and refuses to look or listen. But this is
all the more reason why it should be pitiless when a person's guilt is
positively established. Thus, although he assumed an air of insolent
security, the "viscount" anxiously watched the effect of his words upon
Madame d'Argeles. Fortunately for himself, he saw that she was abashed
by his cynicism; and so he resumed: "Besides, as our friend, the baron,
would say, we are wasting precious time in discussing improbable, and
even impossible, suppositions. I was sufficiently well acquainted with
your heart and your intelligence, my dear madame, to be sure that you
would not speak a word to my disparagement."

"Indeed! What prevented me from doing so?"

"I did; or perhaps I ought rather to say, your own good sense, which
closed your mouth when Monsieur Pascal