fort, and
consequently give the effect of exceptional effort. The salon had
lately been rehung in gold-colored silk with carmelite touches. Madame's
bedroom was draped in a fabric of true blue and furnished in a rococo
manner. Rabourdin's study had inherited the late hangings of the salon,
carefully cleaned, and was adorned by the fine pictures once belonging
to Monsieur Leprince. The daughter of the late auctioneer had utilized
in her dining-room certain exquisite Turkish rugs which her father had
bought at a bargain; panelling them on the walls in ebony, the cost of
which has since become exorbitant. Elegant buffets made by Boulle, also
purchased by the auctioneer, furnished the sides of the room, at the end
of which sparkled the brass arabesques inlaid in tortoise-shell of the
first tall clock that reappeared in the nineteenth century to claim
honor for the masterpieces of the seventeenth. Flowers perfumed these
rooms so full of good taste and of exquisite things, where each detail
was a work of art well placed and well surrounded, and where Madame
Rabourdin, dressed with that natural simplicity which artists alone
attain, gave the impression of a woman accustomed to such elegancies,
though she never spoke of them, but allowed the charms of her mind
to complete the effect produced upon her guests by these delightful
surroundings. Thanks to her father, Celestine was able to make society
talk of her as soon as the rococo became fashionable.

Accustomed as des Lupeaulx was to false as well as real magnificence in
all their stages, he was, nevertheless, surprised at Madame Rabourdin's
home. The charm it exercised over this Parisian Asmodeus can be
explained by a comparison. A traveller wearied with the rich aspects of
Italy, Brazil, or India, returns to his own land and finds on his way a
delightful little lake, like the Lac d'Orta at the foot of Monte Rosa,
with an island resting on the calm waters, bewitchingly simple; a scene
of nature and yet adorned; solitary, but well surrounded with choice
plantations and foliage and statues of fine effect. Beyond lies a vista
of shores both wild and cultivated; tumultuous grandeur towers above,
but in itself all proportions are human. The world that the traveller
has lately viewed is here in miniature, modest and pure; his soul,
refreshed, bids him remain where a charm of melody and poesy surrounds
him with harmony and awakens ideas within his mind. Such a scene
represents both l