ary movements of which
she had almost cured herself. At last, between the second and third
acts, a man had himself admitted to Dinah's box! It was Monsieur de
Clagny.

"I am happy to see you, to tell you how much I am pleased by your
promotion," said she.

"Oh! Madame, for whom should I come to Paris----?"

"What!" said she. "Have I anything to do with your appointment?"

"Everything," said he. "Since you left Sancerre, it had become
intolerable to me; I was dying--"

"Your sincere friendship does me good," replied she, holding out her
hand. "I am in a position to make much of my true friends; I now know
their value.--I feared I must have lost your esteem, but the proof you
have given me by this visit touches me more deeply than your ten years'
attachment."

"You are an object of curiosity to the whole house," said the lawyer.
"Oh! my dear, is this a part for you to be playing? Could you not be
happy and yet remain honored?--I have just heard that you are Monsieur
Etienne Lousteau's mistress, that you live together as man and
wife!--You have broken for ever with society; even if you should some
day marry your lover, the time will come when you will feel the want
of the respectability you now despise. Ought you not to be in a home of
your own with your mother, who loves you well enough to protect you with
her aegis?--Appearances at least would be saved."

"I am in the wrong to have come here," replied she, "that is all.--I
have bid farewell to all the advantages which the world confers on women
who know how to reconcile happiness and the proprieties. My abnegation
is so complete that I only wish I could clear a vast space about me to
make a desert of my love, full of God, of _him_, and of myself.--We
have made too many sacrifices on both sides not to be united--united by
disgrace if you will, but indissolubly one. I am happy; so happy that I
can love freely, my friend, and confide in you more than of old--for I
need a friend."

The lawyer was magnanimous, nay, truly great. To this declaration, in
which Dinah's soul thrilled, he replied in heartrending tones:

"I wanted to go to see you, to be sure that you were loved: I shall now
be easy and no longer alarmed as to your future.--But will your lover
appreciate the magnitude of your sacrifice; is there any gratitude in
his affection?"

"Come to the Rue des Martyrs and you will see!"

"Yes, I will call," he replied. "I have already passed your door without
da