ciled him to the position he had promised to assume.

He was moreover struck with Flavia's charms, and dazzled with the
accounts of her vast prospective fortune. To him, Hortebise, gay, rich,
and careless, seemed the incarnation of happiness, and contributed
greatly to stifle the voice of Paul's conscience. He would, however,
perhaps have hesitated had he known what the locket contained that
dangled so ostentatiously from the doctor's chain.

Before they reached the banker's door, driven in the doctor's elegant
brougham, a similar one to which Paul mentally declared he would have,
as soon as circumstances would permit, the young man's mentor spoke.

"Let me say a few words to you. You have before you a chance which is
seldom afforded to any young man, whatever his rank and social standing.
Mind that you profit by it."

"You may be sure I will," said Paul, with a smile of self-complacency.

"Good, dear boy; but let me fortify your courage with a little of my
experience. Do you know what an heiress really is?"

"Well, really----"

"Permit me to continue. An heiress and more so if she is an only child,
is generally a very disagreeable person, headstrong, capricious,
and puffed up with her own importance. She is utterly spoiled by the
flattery to which she has been accustomed from her earliest years, and
thinks that all the world is made to bend before her."

"Ah!" answered Paul, a little discomfited. "I hope it is not
Mademoiselle Flavia's portrait that you have been sketching?"

"Not exactly," answered the doctor, with a laugh. "But I must warn you
that even she has certain whims and fancies. For instance, I am quite
sure that she would give a suitor every encouragement, and then repulse
him without rhyme or reason."

Paul, who up to this time had only seen the bright side of affairs, was
a good deal disconcerted.

"Buy why should you introduce me to her then?"

"In order that you may win her. Have you not everything to insure
success? She will most likely receive you with the utmost cordiality;
but beware of being too sanguine. Even if she makes desperate love to
you, I say, take care; it may be only a trap; for, between ourselves,
a girl who has a million stitched to her petticoats is to be excused if
she endeavors to find out whether the suitor is after her or her money."

Just then the brougham stopped, and Dr. Hortebise and his young friend
entered the house in the Rue Montmartre, where they were cordia