nah, and even more so on hearing the
two versions explaining the lady's change of dress. And the three
discomfited gentlemen were in a very awkward position for the rest of
the evening.

Next day each, on various business, was obliged to leave Anzy; Dinah
remained with her mother, Lousteau, and her husband. The annoyance
vented by the three victims gave rise to an organized rebellion in
Sancerre. The surrender of the Muse of Le Berry, of the Nivernais,
and of Morvan was the cause of a perfect hue and cry of slander, evil
report, and various guesses in which the story of the muslin gown held a
prominent place. No dress Dinah had ever worn had been so much commented
on, or was half as interesting to the girls, who could not conceive what
the connection might be, that made the married women laugh, between love
and a muslin gown.

The Presidente Boirouge, furious at her son's discomfiture, forgot
the praise she had lavished on the poem of _Paquita_, and fulminated
terrific condemnation on the woman who could publish such a disgraceful
work.

"The wretched woman commits every crime she writes about," said she.
"Perhaps she will come to the same end as her heroine!"

Dinah's fate among the good folks of Sancerre was like that of Marechal
Soult in the opposition newspapers; as long as he is minister he lost
the battle of Toulouse; whenever he is out of the Government he won it!
While she was virtuous, Dinah was a match for Camille de Maupin, a
rival of the most famous women; but as soon as she was happy, she was an
_unhappy creature_.

Monsieur de Clagny was her valiant champion; he went several times to
the Chateau d'Anzy to acquire the right to contradict the rumors current
as to the woman he still faithfully adored, even in her fall; and he
maintained that she and Lousteau were engaged together on some great
work. But the lawyer was laughed to scorn.

The month of October was lovely; autumn is the finest season in the
valley of the Loire; but in 1836 it was unusually glorious. Nature
seemed to aid and abet Dinah, who, as Bianchon had predicted, gradually
developed a heart-felt passion. In one month she was an altered
woman. She was surprised to find in herself so many inert and dormant
qualities, hitherto in abeyance. To her Lousteau seemed an angel; for
heart-love, the crowning need of a great nature, had made a new woman
of her. Dinah was alive! She had found an outlet for her powers, she
saw undreamed-of vistas i