ms of
Parisian levity.

Valerie had had the satisfaction of seeing the Brazilian in the church;
for Crevel, now so entirely the husband, had invited him out of bravado.
And the Baron's presence at the breakfast astonished no one. All these
men of wit and of the world were familiar with the meanness of passion,
the compromises of pleasure.

Steinbock's deep melancholy--for he was beginning to despise the woman
whom he had adored as an angel--was considered to be in excellent taste.
The Pole thus seemed to convey that all was at an end between Valerie
and himself. Lisbeth came to embrace her dear Madame Crevel, and
to excuse herself for not staying to the breakfast on the score of
Adeline's sad state of health.

"Be quite easy," said she to Valerie, "they will call on you, and
you will call on them. Simply hearing the words _two hundred thousand
francs_ has brought the Baroness to death's door. Oh, you have them all
hard and fast by that tale!--But you must tell it to me."

Within a month of her marriage, Valerie was at her tenth quarrel with
Steinbock; he insisted on explanations as to Henri Montes, reminding her
of the words spoken in their paradise; and, not content with speaking
to her in terms of scorn, he watched her so closely that she never had a
moment of liberty, so much was she fettered by his jealousy on one side
and Crevel's devotion on the other.

Bereft now of Lisbeth, whose advice had always been so valuable she flew
into such a rage as to reproach Wenceslas for the money she had lent
him. This so effectually roused Steinbock's pride, that he came no more
to the Crevels' house. So Valerie had gained her point, which was to be
rid of him for a time, and enjoy some freedom. She waited till Crevel
should make a little journey into the country to see Comte Popinot, with
a view to arranging for her introduction to the Countess, and was then
able to make an appointment to meet the Baron, whom she wanted to have
at her command for a whole day to give him those "reasons" which were to
make him love her more than ever.

On the morning of that day, Reine, who estimated the magnitude of her
crime by that of the bribe she received, tried to warn her mistress, in
whom she naturally took more interest than in strangers. Still, as she
had been threatened with madness, and ending her days in the Salpetriere
in case of indiscretion, she was cautious.

"Madame, you are so well off now," said she. "Why take on again