sted that her husband should
purchase the hotel on which she had spent so much, where she had housed
five hundred thousand francs' worth of furniture. Wherefore Tullia never
enters into explanations; she understands the sovereign woman's reason
to admiration.

"'People made a good deal of fun of Cursy,' said she; 'but, as a matter
of fact, he found this house in the eighteenth century rouge-box,
powder, puffs, and spangles. He would never have thought of it but for
me,' she added, burying herself in the cushions in her fireside corner.

"She delivered herself thus on her return from a first night. Du Bruel's
piece had succeeded, and she foresaw an avalanche of criticisms. Tullia
had her At Homes. Every Monday she gave a tea-party; her society was as
select as might be, and she neglected nothing that could make her house
pleasant. There was a bouillotte in one room, conversation in another,
and sometimes a concert (always short) in the large drawing-room. None
but the most eminent artists performed in the house. Tullia had so much
good sense, that she attained to the most exquisite tact, and herein, in
all probability, lay the secret of her ascendency over du Bruel; at
any rate, he loved her with the love which use and wont at length makes
indispensable to life. Every day adds another thread to the strong,
irresistible, intangible web, which enmeshes the most delicate fancies,
takes captive every most transient mood, and binding them together,
holds a man captive hand and foot, heart and head.

"Tullia knew Cursy well; she knew every weak point in his armor, knew
also how to heal his wounds.

"A passion of this kind is inscrutable for any observer, even for a man
who prides himself, as I do, on a certain expertness. It is everywhere
unfathomable; the dark depths in it are darker than in any other
mystery; the colors confused even in the highest lights.

"Cursy was an old playwright, jaded by the life of the theatrical world.
He liked comfort; he liked a luxurious, affluent, easy existence; he
enjoyed being a king in his own house; he liked to be host to a party of
men of letters in a hotel resplendent with royal luxury, with carefully
chosen works of art shining in the setting. Tullia allowed du Bruel to
enthrone himself amid the tribe; there were plenty of journalists whom
it was easy enough to catch and ensnare; and, thanks to her evening
parties and a well-timed loan here and there, Cursy was not attacked
too ser