rs of a scribbling nobody, found
himself confronted by a high functionary of the state. The salon
where he was told to wait offered, as a topic for his meditations, the
insignia of the Legion of honor glittering on a black coat which the
valet had left upon a chair. Presently his eyes were attracted by the
beauty and brilliancy of a silver-gilt cup bearing the words "Given by
_Madame_." Then he beheld before him, on a pedestal, a Sevres vase on
which was engraved, "The gift of Madame la _Dauphine_."

These mute admonitions brought Dumay to his senses while the valet went
to ask his master if he would receive a person who had come from Havre
expressly to see him,--a stranger named Dumay.

"What sort of a man?" asked Canalis.

"He is well-dressed, and wears the ribbon of the Legion of honor."

Canalis made a sign of assent, and the valet retreated, and then
returned and announced, "Monsieur Dumay."

When he heard himself announced, when he was actually in presence of
Canalis, in a study as gorgeous as it was elegant, with his feet on a
carpet far handsomer than any in the house of Mignon, and when he met
the studied glance of the poet who was playing with the tassels of a
sumptuous dressing-gown, Dumay was so completely taken aback that he
allowed the great poet to have the first word.

"To what do I owe the honor of your visit, monsieur?"

"Monsieur," began Dumay, who remained standing.

"If you have a good deal to say," interrupted Canalis, "I must ask you
to be seated."

And Canalis himself plunged into an armchair a la Voltaire, crossed his
legs, raised the upper one to the level of his eye and looked fixedly at
Dumay, who became, to use his own martial slang, "bayonetted."

"I am listening, monsieur," said the poet; "my time is precious,--the
ministers are expecting me."

"Monsieur," said Dumay, "I shall be brief. You have seduced--how, I do
not know--a young lady in Havre, young, beautiful, and rich; the
last and only hope of two noble families; and I have come to ask your
intentions."

Canalis, who had been busy during the last three months with serious
matters of his own, and was trying to get himself made commander of the
Legion of honor and minister to a German court, had completely forgotten
Modeste's letter."

"I!" he exclaimed.

"You!" repeated Dumay.

"Monsieur," answered Canalis, smiling; "I know no more of what you are
talking about than if you had said it in Hebrew. I seduce a young
gi