ten--"

"Then a gallant never compromises the reputation of a woman who has been
kind to him. So, I say, let's keep our secrets, or, rather, the secrets
of M. le Vicomte, my dear Edwards."

"Ah, good! What will he do now?"

"He is going to Germany in a good travelling carriage, with seven or
eight thousand francs, which he knows when to lay his hand upon. Oh, I
have no fears for the vicomte! He is one of those personages who always
fall on their feet, as they say."

"And he has no future expectancies?"

"None; for his father has nothing but just enough to live upon."

"His father?"

"Certainly."

"M. le Vicomte's father is not dead?"

"He was not dead five or six months ago when M. le Vicomte wrote to him
for some family papers."

"But we never see him here?"

"For reasons good. For fifteen years he has resided in the country at
Angers."

"But M. le Vicomte never visits him?"

"His father?"

"Yes."

"Never--never!"

"Have they quarrelled, then?"

"What I am going to tell you is no secret, for I have it from the old
man of business of M. the Prince de Noirmont."

"Father of Madame de Lucenay?" said Edwards, with a knowing glance at
Boyer, who, appearing not to understand him, replied coolly:

"Madame la Duchesse de Lucenay is the daughter of M. the Prince de
Noirmont. The father of M. le Vicomte was bosom friend of the prince.
Madame la Duchesse was then very young, and M. de Saint-Remy, senior,
who was very fond of her, treated her as if she were his own child. I
learnt these details from Simon, the prince's man of business; and I may
speak unhesitatingly, for the adventure I am about to narrate to you
was, at the time, the talk of all Paris. In spite of his sixty years,
the father of M. le Vicomte is a man of iron disposition, with the
courage of a lion, of probity which I call almost fabulous. He had
scarcely any property of his own, and had married the vicomte's mother
for love. She was a young person of good fortune, possessing about a
million of francs, at the melting of which we have had the honour to be
present." And M. Boyer bowed. Edwards imitated him.

"The marriage was a very happy one, until the moment when the father of
M. le Vicomte found--accidentally, as they say--some letters, which
proved that, during one of his absences three or four years after his
marriage, his wife had had an attachment for a certain Polish count."

"That often happens to these Poles. When I was at the