, and for himself alone. Aurelie refused
to make the happiness of a Russian prince who offered her five thousand
francs a month.

"You are a lucky man, my dear marquis," cried old Prince Galathionne as
he finished his game of whist at the club. "Yesterday, after you left
us alone, I tried to get Madame Schontz away from you, but she said:
'Prince, you are not handsomer, but you are a great deal older than
Rochefide; you would beat me, but he is like a father to me; can you
give me one-tenth of a reason why I should change? I've never had the
grand passion for Arthur that I once had for little fools in varnished
boots and whose debts I paid; but I love him as a wife loves her husband
when she is an honest woman.' And thereupon she showed me the door."

This speech, which did not seem exaggerated, had the effect of greatly
increasing the state of neglect and degradation which reigned in the
hotel de Rochefide. Arthur now transported his whole existence and his
pleasures to Madame Schontz, and found himself well off; for at the end
of three years he had four hundred thousand francs to invest.

The third phase now began. Madame Schontz became the tenderest of
mothers to Arthur's son; she fetched him from school and took him back
herself; she overwhelmed with presents and dainties and pocket-money the
child who called her his "little mamma," and who adored her. She took
part in the management of Arthur's property; she made him buy into the
Funds when low, just before the famous treaty of London which overturned
the ministry of March 1st. Arthur gained two hundred thousand francs
by that transaction and Aurelie did not ask for a penny of it. Like
the gentleman that he was, Rochefide invested his six hundred thousand
francs in stock of the Bank of France and put half of that sum in the
name of Josephine Schiltz. A little house was now hired in the rue de
La Bruyere and given to Grindot, that great decorative architect, with
orders to make it a perfect bonbon-box.

Henceforth, Rochefide no longer managed his affairs. Madame Schontz
received the revenues and paid the bills. Become, as it were,
practically his wife, his woman of business, she justified the position
by making her _gros papa_ more comfortable than ever; she had learned
all his fancies, and gratified them as Madame de Pompadour gratified
those of Louis XV. In short, Madame Schontz reigned an absolute
mistress. She then began to patronize a few young men, artists,