fatal example of
some of her comrades like herself without resources, who congratulated
themselves on their decision. She substituted _on_ for _il_ in her
father's name and placed herself under the patronage of Saint-Aurelie.

Lively, witty, and well-educated, she committed more faults than her
duller companions, whose misdemeanors had invariably self-interest for
their base. After knowing various writers, poor but dishonest, clever
but deeply in debt; after trying certain rich men as calculating as
they were foolish; and after sacrificing solid interests to one true
love,--thus going through all the schools in which experience is
taught,--on a certain day of extreme misery, when, at Valentino's (the
first stage to Musard) she danced in a gown, hat, and mantle that were
all borrowed, she attracted the attention of Arthur de Rochefide, who
had come there to see the famous _galop_. Her cleverness instantly
captivated the man who at that time knew not what passion to devote
himself to. So that two years after his desertion by Beatrix, the memory
of whom often humiliated him, the marquis was not blamed by any one for
marrying, so to speak, in the thirteenth arrondissement, a substitute
for his wife.

Let us sketch the four periods of this happiness. It is necessary
to show that the theory of marriage in the thirteenth arrondissement
affects in like manner all who come within its rule.[*] Marquis in
the forties, sexagenary retired shopkeeper, quadruple millionnaire
or moderate-income man, great seigneur or bourgeois, the strategy of
passion (except for the differences inherent in social zones) never
varies. The heart and the money-box are always in the same exact and
clearly defined relation. Thus informed, you will be able to estimate
the difficulties the duchess was certain to encounter in her charitable
enterprise.

[*] Before 1859 there was no 13th arrondissement in Paris,
hence the saying.--TR.

Who knows the power in France of witty sayings upon ordinary minds, or
what harm the clever men who invent them have done? For instance, no
book-keeper could add up the figures of the sums remaining unproductive
and lost in the depths of generous hearts and strong-boxes by that
ignoble phrase, "_tirer une carotte!_"

The saying has become so popular that it must be allowed to soil this
page. Besides, if we penetrate within the 13th arrondissement, we are
forced to accept its picturesque patois. _Tirer une caro