angers and difficulties which may terminate
in a prison.' 'What, then, would you have me do?' 'Hasten to the editor
at once; erase so much of your letter as refers to the proposed
reward. The information could be of no service to you if obtained--some
_miserable_, perhaps some spy of the police, the slanderer. What could
you gain by his punishment, save publicity? A mere denial of the facts
alleged is quite sufficient; and even that,' continued she, smiling,
'how superfluous is it after all! A week--ten days at farthest--and the
whole mystery is unveiled. Not that I would dissuade you from a course I
see your heart is bent upon, and which, after all, is a purely personal
consideration.'

'Yes,' said I, after a pause, 'I'll take your advice; the letter shall
be inserted without the concluding paragraph.' The calumnious reports
on the count prevented madame dining that day at the table d'hote; and
I remarked, as I took my place at table, a certain air of constraint
and reserve among the guests, as though my presence had interdicted the
discussion of a topic which occupied all Brussels. Dinner over, I walked
into the park to meditate on the course I should pursue under present
circumstances, and deliberate with myself how far the habits of my
former intimacy with the countess might or might not be admissible
during her husband's absence. The question was solved for me sooner than
I anticipated, for a waiter overtook me with a short note, written with
a pencil; it ran thus:--

'They play the _Zauberflotte_ to-night at the Opera. I shall go at
eight: perhaps you would like a seat in the carriage? Duischka.'

'Whatever doubts I might have conceived about my conduct, the manner of
the countess at once dispelled them. A tone of perfect ease, and almost
sisterly confidence marked her whole bearing; and while I felt delighted
and fascinated by the freedom of our intercourse, I could not help
thinking how impossible such a line of acting would have been in my own
more rigid country, and to what cruel calumnies and aspersions it would
have subjected her. 'Truly,' thought I, 'if they manage these things--as
Sterne says they do--"better in France," they also far excel in them in
Poland.' And so my Polish grammar and the canzonettes and the drives to
Boitsfort all went on as usual, and my dream of happiness, interrupted
for a moment, flowed on again in its former channel with increased
force.

A fortnight had now elapsed without a