.... And look round you!" He
waved his hand round the luxurious room. "Duke of Charmerace! This
trade leads to everything ... to everything on condition that one
sticks to it ....I tell you, Victoire, that when one cannot be a great
artist or a great soldier, the only thing to be is a great thief!"

"Oh, be quiet!" cried Victoire. "Don't talk like that. You're working
yourself up; you're intoxicating yourself! And all that, it is not
Catholic. Come, at your age, you ought to have one idea in your head
which should drive out all these others, which should make you forget
all these thefts.... Love ... that would change you, I'm sure of it.
That would make another man of you. You ought to marry."

"Yes ... perhaps ... that would make another man of me. That's what
I've been thinking. I believe you're right," said Lupin thoughtfully.

"Is that true? Have you really been thinking of it?" cried Victoire
joyfully.

"Yes," said Lupin, smiling at her eagerness. "I have been thinking
about it--seriously."

"No more messing about--no more intrigues. But a real woman ... a woman
for life?" cried Victoire.

"Yes," said Lupin softly; and his eyes were shining in a very grave
face.

"Is it serious--is it real love, dearie?" said Victoire. "What's she
like?"

"She's beautiful," said Lupin.

"Oh, trust you for that. Is she a blonde or a brunette?"

"She's very fair and delicate--like a princess in a fairy tale," said
Lupin softly.

"What is she? What does she do?" said Victoire.

"Well, since you ask me, she's a thief," said Lupin with a mischievous
smile.

"Good Heavens!" cried Victoire.

"But she's a very charming thief," said Lupin; and he rose smiling.

He lighted a cigar, stretched himself and yawned: "She had ever so much
more reason for stealing than ever I had," he said. "And she has always
hated it like poison."

"Well, that's something," said Victoire; and her blank and fallen face
brightened a little.

Lupin walked up and down the room, breathing out long luxurious puffs
of smoke from his excellent cigar, and watching Victoire with a
humorous eye. He walked across to his book-shelf, and scanned the
titles of his books with an appreciative, almost affectionate smile.

"This is a very pleasant interlude," he said languidly. "But I don't
suppose it's going to last very long. As soon as Guerchard recovers
from the shock of learning that I spent a quiet night in my ducal bed
as an honest duke should, he'll