e
white satin skin of her throat was rough, "turned to goose flesh," to
use the familiar expression. As for me, I laughed in myself without
moving a muscle.

"'"This gentleman is one of my tradesmen," she said.

"'The Count turned his back on me; I drew the bill half out of my
pocket. After that inexorable movement, she came over to me and put a
diamond into my hands. "Take it," she said, "and be gone."

"'We exchanged values, and I made my bow and went. The diamond was quite
worth twelve hundred francs to me. Out in the courtyard I saw a swarm of
flunkeys, brushing out their liveries, waxing their boots, and cleaning
sumptuous equipages.

"'"This is what brings these people to me!" said I to myself. "It is
to keep up this kind of thing that they steal millions with all due
formalities, and betray their country. The great lord, and the little
man who apes the great lord, bathes in mud once for all to save himself
a splash or two when he goes afoot through the streets."

"'Just then the great gates were opened to admit a cabriolet. It was the
same young fellow who had brought the bill to me.

"'"Sir," I said, as he alighted, "here are two hundred francs, which I
beg you to return to Mme. la Comtesse, and have the goodness to tell her
that I hold the pledge which she deposited with me this morning at her
disposition for a week."

"'He took the two hundred francs, and an ironical smile stole over his
face; it was as if he had said, "Aha! so she has paid it, has she? ...
Faith, so much the better!" I read the Countess' future in his face.
That good-looking, fair-haired young gentleman is a heartless gambler;
he will ruin himself, ruin her, ruin her husband, ruin the children, eat
up their portions, and work more havoc in Parisian salons than a whole
battery of howitzers in a regiment.

"'I went back to see Mlle. Fanny in the Rue Montmartre, climbed a very
steep, narrow staircase, and reached a two-roomed dwelling on the fifth
floor. Everything was as neat as a new ducat. I did not see a speck of
dust on the furniture in the first room, where Mlle. Fanny was sitting.
Mlle. Fanny herself was a young Parisian girl, quietly dressed, with a
delicate fresh face, and a winning look. The arrangement of her neatly
brushed chestnut hair in a double curve on her forehead lent a refined
expression to blue eyes, clear as crystal. The broad daylight streaming
in through the short curtains against the window pane fell with soften