s being the last resource of a mind as completely played out as
the body, he plucked Crevel again and again, the Mayor thinking himself
bound to subserviency to the worthy official whom _he was cheating_.

Seeing Crevel a mere child in the hands of that hideous and atrocious
mummy, of whose utter vileness the Mayor knew nothing; and seeing him,
yet more, an object of deep contempt to Valerie, who made game of Crevel
as of some mountebank, the Baron apparently thought him so impossible as
a rival that he constantly invited him to dinner.

Valerie, protected by two lovers on guard, and by a jealous husband,
attracted every eye, and excited every desire in the circle she shone
upon. And thus, while keeping up appearances, she had, in the course
of three years, achieved the most difficult conditions of the success a
courtesan most cares for and most rarely attains, even with the help
of audacity and the glitter of an existence in the light of the sun.
Valerie's beauty, formerly buried in the mud of the Rue du Doyenne, now,
like a well-cut diamond exquisitely set by Chanor, was worth more than
its real value--it could break hearts. Claude Vignon adored Valerie in
secret.

This retrospective explanation, quite necessary after the lapse of
three years, shows Valerie's balance-sheet. Now for that of her partner,
Lisbeth.

Lisbeth Fischer filled the place in the Marneffe household of a relation
who combines the functions of a lady companion and a housekeeper; but
she suffered from none of the humiliations which, for the most part,
weigh upon the women who are so unhappy as to be obliged to fill these
ambiguous situations. Lisbeth and Valerie offered the touching spectacle
of one of those friendships between women, so cordial and so improbable,
that men, always too keen-tongued in Paris, forthwith slander them. The
contrast between Lisbeth's dry masculine nature and Valerie's creole
prettiness encouraged calumny. And Madame Marneffe had unconsciously
given weight to the scandal by the care she took of her friend, with
matrimonial views, which were, as will be seen, to complete Lisbeth's
revenge.

An immense change had taken place in Cousin Betty; and Valerie, who
wanted to smarten her, had turned it to the best account. The strange
woman had submitted to stays, and laced tightly, she used bandoline to
keep her hair smooth, wore her gowns as the dressmaker sent them home,
neat little boots, and gray silk stockings, all of