he prince, during the exit, placed himself at the
bottom of the great staircase. He had enlisted two of his friends.
"Come," he had said to them, "I will show you the most beautiful woman
in Paris." While he was speaking, two steps away from the prince was an
alert young man who was attached to a morning paper, a very widely-read
paper. The young man had sharp ears, he caught on the fly the phrase of
the Prince Agenor, whose high social position he knew; he succeeded in
keeping close to the prince, and when Mme. Derline passed, the young
reporter had the gift of hearing the conversation, without losing a
word, of the three brilliant noblemen. A quarter of an hour later he
arrived at the office of the paper.

"Is there time," he asked, "to write a dozen lines in the _Society
Note-book_?"

"Yes, but hurry."

The young man was a quick writer; the fifteen lines were done in the
twinkling of an eye. They brought seven francs fifty to the reporter,
but cost M. Derline a little more than that.

During this time Prince Agenor, seated in the club at the whist-table,
was saying, while shuffling the cards:

"This evening at the opera there was a marvellous woman, a certain Mme.
Derline. She is the most beautiful woman in Paris!"

The following morning, in the gossip-corner of the Bois, in the spring
sunshine, the prince, surrounded by a little group of respectful
disciples, was solemnly delivering from the back of his roan mare the
following opinion:

"Listen well to what I say. The most beautiful woman in Paris is a
certain Mme. Derline. This star will be visible Thursday evening at the
Palmer's. Go, and don't forget the name--Mme. Derline."

The disciples dispersed, and went abroad spreading the great news.

Mme. Derline had been admirably brought up by an irreproachable mother;
she had been taught that she ought to get up in the morning, keep a
strict account of her expenses, not go to a great dress-maker, believe
in God, love her husband, visit the poor, and never spend but half her
income in order to prepare dowries for her daughters. Mme. Derline
performed all these duties. She led a peaceful and serene life in the
old house (in the Rue Dragon) which had sheltered, since 1825, three
generations of Derlines; the husbands had all three been lawyers, the
wives had all three been virtuous. The three generations had passed
there a happy and moderate life, never having any great pleasures, but,
also, never being very bo