ietes, and I thought you had meant to give the dinner to a
collaborator. Left to myself, I gave way, I dressed to hurry out after
you--poor pet.'

"Du Bruel looked at me triumphantly, not a vestige of a recollection of
his orations _contra Tullia_ in his mind.

"'Well, dearest, I have not spoken to any one of them,' he said.

"'How well we understand each other!' quoth she.

"Even as she uttered those bewildering sweet words, I caught sight of
something in her belt, the corner of a little note thrust sidewise
into it; but I did not need that indication to tell me that Tullia's
fantastic conduct was referable to occult causes. Woman, in my opinion,
is the most logical of created beings, the child alone excepted. In both
we behold a sublime phenomenon, the unvarying triumph of one dominant,
all-excluding thought. The child's thought changes every moment; but
while it possesses him, he acts upon it with such ardor that others give
way before him, fascinated by the ingenuity, the persistence of a strong
desire. Woman is less changeable, but to call her capricious is a stupid
insult. Whenever she acts, she is always swayed by one dominant passion;
and wonderful it is to see how she makes that passion the very centre of
her world.

"Tullia was irresistible; she twisted du Bruel round her fingers, the
sky grew blue again, the evening was glorious. And ingenious writer
of plays as he is, he never so much as saw that his wife had buried a
trouble out of sight.

"'Such is life, my dear fellow,' he said to me, 'ups and downs and
contrasts.'

"'Especially life off the stage,' I put in.

"'That is just what I mean,' he continued. 'Why, but for these violent
emotions, one would be bored to death! Ah! that woman has the gift of
rousing me.'

"We went to the Varietes after dinner; but before we left the house
I slipped into du Bruel's room, and on a shelf among a pile of waste
papers found the copy of the _Petites-Affiches_, in which, agreeably to
the reformed law, notice of the purchase of the house was inserted. The
words stared me in the face--'At the request of Jean Francois du Bruel
and Claudine Chaffaroux, his wife----' _Here_ was the explanation of the
whole matter. I offered my arm to Claudine, and allowed the guests to
descend the stairs in front of us. When we were alone--'If I were La
Palferine,' I said, 'I would not break an appointment.'

"Gravely she laid her finger on her lips. She leant on my arm as we went