worth double. Of course, everybody has his own ideas, and he ought not to
have accepted it. You know the rest."

"Captain d'Anglemare laughed until he cried as he told me the story, but
he also made me promise to keep the matter a secret, just as he had
promised the two soldiers. So, above all, do not betray me, but promise
me to keep it to yourself."

"Oh! You may be quite easy about that. But how was it all arranged, in
the end?"

"How? It is a joke in a thousand!... Mother Bonderoi keeps her two
dragoons, and reserves his own particular day for each of them, and in
that way everybody is satisfied."

"Oh! That is capital! Really capital!"

"And he can send his old father and mother the money as usual, and thus
morality is satisfied."

THE RELIC

_To the Abbe Louis d'Ennemare, at Soissons._

"My Dear Abbe:

"My marriage with your cousin is broken off in the stupidest manner,
on account of a stupid trick which I almost involuntarily played my
intended, in my embarrassment, and I turn to you, my old schoolfellow,
for you may be able to help me out of the difficulty. If you can, I shall
be grateful to you until I die.

"You know Gilberte, or rather you think you know her, for do we ever
understand women? All their opinions, their ideas, their creeds, are a
surprise to us. They are all full of twists and turns, of the unforeseen,
of unintelligible arguments, or defective logic and of obstinate ideas,
which seem final, but which they alter because a little bird came and
perched on the window ledge.

"I need not tell you that your cousin is very religious, as she was
brought up by the _White_ (or was it the _Black_?) _Ladies_ at Nancy. You
know that better than I do, but what you perhaps do not know, is, that
she is just as excitable about other matters as she is about religion.
Her head flies away, just like a leaf being whirled away by the wind; and
she is a woman, or rather a girl, more so than many are, for she is
moved, or made angry in a moment, starting off at a gallop after
affection, just as she does after hatred, and returning in the same
manner; and she is as pretty ... as you know, and more charming than
I can say ... as you will never know.

"Well, we became engaged, and I adored her, as I adore her still, and she
appeared to love me.

"One evening, I received a telegram summoning me to Cologne for a
consultation, which might be followed by a serious and difficult
operation, and as I ha