red to an idol, and most women like to be worshipped as
idols.

Peter told himself all the sex are alike, and comforted himself with
the thought that not one of his companions would recognize Eveline.
But Peter took a sore heart back to his inn.

In the hall he met the abbe, and asked him, "When are we going back?"

"Are you weary of Vienna, Peter?"

"I am."

"Have a little patience. To-morrow we must pay a visit to a charming
lady."

"What have we to do with charming ladies?"

"Don't ask the why or the wherefore. If we want to attain our end we
must leave no means untried. We must beg this lady to interest herself
for us. One word from her to his excellency the minister will do more
than if we said a whole litany."

"Very good; then we had better see her."

CHAPTER XXII

TWO SUPPLIANTS

The next day, at eleven o'clock, Abbe Samuel came to fetch his
followers, and conduct them to the house of the influential lady whose
one word had more weight with his excellency than the most carefully
arranged speeches of priests and orators.

The carriage stopped before a splendid palace; a porter in a
magnificent scarlet livery, with a bear-skin cap, answered the bell,
and between a double row of marble pillars they ascended the steps.
The staircase was also of marble, covered with a soft, thick carpet.
The school-master at home, if he had a bit of this stuff, would have
made a fine coat of it. Up the staircase were such beautiful statues
that the poor peasants would have liked to kneel to kiss their hands.
The staircase was roofed in with glass and heated with hot air, so
that the lovely hot-house plants and costly china groups suffered no
injury from the cold air. In the anteroom servants wearing silver
epaulettes conducted the visitors into the drawing-room. The sight
almost took away their breath. There was no wall to be seen; it was
panelled in the most sumptuous silk brocade; the curtains of the same
texture had gold rods, and splendid pictures in rich frames hung on
the silk panels. The upper portion of the windows was of stained
glass, such as is seen in cathedrals, and opposite the windows was a
large fireplace of white marble, upon whose mantelpiece stood a
wonderful clock, with a beautiful figure which moved in time to the
melodious tick. The furniture was all of mahogany. From the ceiling,
upon which the arabesques in gold were a feast to the eye, there hung
a lustre with a hundred lights, whose