, and went
into the garden. The steps the Duchess had heard were those of two
persons, who, after having been the rounds of the room, were about to go
into the picture-gallery. The two persons were Rene d'Harcourt and Count
Monte-Leone.

"Ah ha!" said the Count, "what the devil is Taddeo doing there against
the drapery, there like a jealous Spaniard at a corner of Seville,
listening to a serenade given by his rival?"

"True! true!" replied d'Harcourt, "but I think the serenade has been
given, for his features express the most malevolent expression."

The emotion of Taddeo was so violent when he heard the words of the
Duchess, that he had not strength to leave. He, however, restrained
himself, and listened to the raillery of his friends.

"Like yourselves," said he, with a quivering voice, "I was in search of
fresh air, for it is fearfully warm."

"Do not get sick here," said d'Harcourt, "for Doctor Matheus is not here
to cure you."

"Silence," said Taddeo, changing his expression at once, "how imprudent
you are to pronounce his name."

All three of them entered the boudoir.

"True," said d'Harcourt, "my tongue is always quicker than my mind. I
will however try and make them keep time."

"When will there be a consultation?" asked Taddeo, trying to be calm.

"Eight days hence!"

"At what hour?"

"Midnight!"

"Are there many patients?"

"More than ever," said the Count, "and the poor devils are anxious as
possible to be cured!"

"Then," said d'Harcourt, "the practice of the Doctor increases."

"Every day. He will soon be unable to turn around."

"That does not make me uneasy," said d'Harcourt, "our Doctor is a
skilful man, a great philosopher, and fully acquainted with the new
medicine."

"Yes, very new;--he treats the mind, rather than the body."

"Ah, that is its very essence," replied the Vicompte, "and I know some
wonderful cures of his--so wonderful, indeed, that on the other day I
presented him to my father."

"To the Duke?" said Monte-Leone,--"introduce Doctor Matheus to the Duke
d'Harcourt?" Then in a low voice he continued, "Why did you present him
to the Doctor?"

"For a reason which was important and very dear to my heart. My young
sister was suffering; my father, who consulted in behalf of my brothers
the most eminent practitioners of Paris, lost all confidence in the
faculty when he lost his sons. He did not know whom to consult about his
daughter; I spoke to him of Matheus, and to