but
as many gentlemen as she pleased, as I had ordered supper for twenty
people. She came to dinner with her niece and Valenglard, her daughter
being busy dressing and her husband being engaged till the evening. She
assured me that I should have plenty of guests.

The fair Mdlle. Roman wore the same dress, but her beauty unadorned was
dazzling. Standing by me she asked if I had thought about her horoscope.
I took her hand, made her sit on my knee, and promised that she should
have it on the morrow. I held her thus, pressing her charming breasts
with my left hand, and imprinting fiery kisses on her lips, which she
only opened to beg me to calm myself. She was more astonished than afraid
to see me trembling, and though she defended herself successfully she did
not lose countenance for a moment, and in spite of my ardent gaze she did
not turn her face away. I calmed myself with an effort, and her eyes
expressed the satisfaction of one who has vanquished a generous enemy by
the force of reason. By my silence I praised the virtue of this celestial
being, in whose destiny I only had a part by one of those caprices of
chance which philosophy seeks to explain in vain.

Madame Morin came up to me, and asked me to explain some points in her
daughter's horoscope. She then told me that if I wanted to have four
beauties at my ball she had only to write a couple of notes.

"I shall only see one beauty," said I, looking at her niece.

"God alone knows," said Valenglard, "what people will say in Grenoble!"

"They will say it is your wedding ball," said Madame Morin to her niece.

"Yes, and they will doubtless talk of my magnificent dress, my lace, and
my diamonds," said the niece, pleasantly.

"They will talk of your beauty, your wit, and your goodness," I replied,
passionately, "goodness which will make your husband a happy man."

There was a silence, because they all thought I was alluding to myself. I
was doing nothing of the sort. I should have been glad to give five
hundred louis for her, but I did not see how the contract was to be drawn
up, and I was not going to throw my money away.

We went to my bedroom, and while Mdlle. Roman was amusing herself with
looking at the jewellry on my toilette-table, her aunt and Valenglard
examined the books on the table by my bedside. I saw Madame Morin going
to the window and looking closely at something she held in her hand. I
remembered I had left out the portrait of the fair nun. I