n has something to say to him."

The two valets eyed the unknown visitor, plainly considering him to
be one of those persons who have no existence for the menials of
fashionable establishments, and finally burst into a hearty laugh. "Upon
my word!" exclaimed the eldest, "he's just in time. Announce him,
and madame will be greatly obliged to you. She and monsieur have
been quarrelling for a good half-hour. And, heavenly powers, isn't he
tantalizing!"

The most intense curiosity gleamed in the eyes of Pascal's conductor,
and with an airy of secrecy, he asked: "What is the cause of the rumpus?
That Fernand, no doubt--or some one else?"

"No; this morning it's about M. Van Klopen."

"Madame's dressmaker?"

"The same. Monsieur and madame were breakfasting together--a most
unusual thing--when M. Van Klopen made his appearance. I thought to
myself, when I admitted him: 'Look out for storms!' I scented one in
the air, and in fact the dressmaker hadn't been in the room five minutes
before we heard the baron's voice rising higher and higher. I said to
myself: 'Whew! the mantua-maker is presenting his bill!' Madame cried
and went on like mad; but, pshaw! when the master really begins, there's
no one like him. There isn't a cab-driver in Paris who's his equal for
swearing."

"And M. Van Klopen?"

"Oh, he's used to such scenes! When gentlemen abuse him he does the same
as dogs do when they come up out of the water; he just shakes his head
and troubles himself no more about it. He has decidedly the best of the
row. He has furnished the goods, and he'll have to be paid sooner or
later----"

"What! hasn't he been paid then?"

"I don't know; he's still here."

A terrible crash of breaking china interrupted this edifying
conversation. "There!" exclaimed one of the footmen, "that's monsieur;
he has smashed two or three hundred francs' worth of dishes. He MUST be
rich to pay such a price for his angry fits."

"Well," observed the other, "if I were in monsieur's place I should be
angry too. Would you let your wife have her dresses fitted on by a man?
I says that it's indecent. I'm only a servant, but----"

"Nonsense, it's the fashion. Besides, monsieur does not care about that.
A man who----"

He stopped short; in fact, the others had motioned him to be silent.
The baron was surrounded by exceptional servants, and the presence of a
stranger acted as a restraint upon them. For this reason, one of them,
after asking Pascal f