life, my wife. She loved me, she told me so soon after we became
acquainted, and I believed her; I believe her now, sometimes, when I
strike softly the skins of my dear little drum children. We soon
married. There were no impediments on my side; my parents were dead and
I had a little ready money. I gave it all to her. She took it and bought
diamonds.

"They were so handy in case of hard luck," she said, and smiled. I
smiled, too, and kissed her.

I kissed her very often, and was so desperately in love with her that I
joined the circus and played the drums there; hush! don't tell it to any
one--and the side-drums at that. I would have even played the piano for
her, so frantically did I adore her. I was very proud of my wife, my
Leontine. She did a tremendous act on the trapeze. She swung and made a
flying leap across the tent and caught a bar, and every time I gave a
tap on the big drum just as she grasped the trapeze. Oh! it would have
made your blood shiver to see her slight figure hurtling through space
and landing safely with my rhythmic accompaniment. And how people
cheered, and what crowds flocked to view the spectacle! In some towns
the authorities made us use nets; then the crowds were not nearly so
large. People like risks. The human animal is happy if it smells blood.
Leontine noticed the decreased attendance when the safety nets were
used, and begged the manager to dispense with them.

He often did so, for he loved money as much as she loved fame. She was
perfectly fearless and laughed at my misgivings, so we usually did the
act without nets....

We had reached Rouen in our wanderings through the provinces, and I
mooned about the old town, sauntering through the cathedral, plunged in
a reverie, for I was happy, happy all the time. Leontine was so good, so
amiable, so true. She associated with none of the women of the circus
and with none of the men, except the manager and myself.

The manager reared her; she had been a foundling. She told me this at
the beginning of our intimacy. We often played games of picking out the
handsomest houses and chateaux we passed, pretending that her parents
lived in them. She was very jolly, was my little Leontine, and remained
with me nearly all the time, except when practising her difficult feats;
this she did in company with the manager, who attended to the ropes and
necessary tackling. He was a charming fellow, and very obliging.

One day I was sitting half-asleep in