er repudiate mine honourable intentions, for if I did,
then I should be arraigned before the law on a criminal charge of
abduction. In this comedy of false gendarmes Rochez himself and the
heartless Leah had joined with zest and laughed over my discomfiture,
whilst the friends who played their roles to such perfection had a
paltry hundred francs each as the price of this infamous trick. Now my
doom was sealed, and all that was left for me to do was to think
disconsolately over my future.

I did bitterly reproach Sarah for her treachery and tried to still her
protestations of love by pointing out to her that I had absolutely no
fortune, and could only offer her a life of squalor, not to say of
what. But this she knew, and vowed that penury by my side would make
her happier than luxury beside any other man. Ah, Sir, 'tis given to
few men to arouse such selfless passion in a woman's heart, and it
hath oft been my dream in the past one day thus to be adored for
myself alone!

But for the moment I was too deeply angered to listen placidly to
Sarah's vows of undying affection. My nerves were irritated by her
fulsome adulation; indeed, I could not bear the sight of her nor yet
the sound of her voice. You may imagine how thankful I was when the
chaise came at last to a halt outside the humble little hostelry where
I had engaged the room which I had so fondly hoped would have been
occupied by the lovely and fickle Leah.

I bundled Mlle. Goldberg senior into the house, and here again I had
to endure galling mortification in the shape of sidelong glances cast
at me and my future bride by the landlord of the hostelry and his
ill-bred daughter. When I engaged the room I had very foolishly told
them that it would be occupied by a lovely lady who had consented to
be my wife, and that she would remain here in happy seclusion until
such time as all arrangements for our wedding were complete. The
humiliation of these vulgar people's irony seemed like the last straw
which overweighed my forbearance. The room and pension I had already
paid two days in advance, so I had nothing more to say either to the
ribald landlord or to Mlle. Goldberg senior. I was bitterly angered
against her, and refused her the solace of a kindly look or of an
encouraging pressure from my hand, even though she waited for both
with the pathetic patience of an old spaniel.

I re-entered the coach, which was to take me back to mine own humble
lodgings in Passy. He