wall before this man, who was guilty
at least of sacrilege and forgery, this woman, sanctified by her love,
felt an awful fear in the depths of her heart. She made no reply, but
dragged Lucien into her room, and asked him:

"Is he the devil?"

"He is far worse to me!" he vehemently replied. "But if you love me,
try to imitate that man's devotion to me, and obey him on pain of
death!----"

"Of death!" she exclaimed, more frightened than ever.

"Of death," repeated Lucien. "Alas! my darling, no death could be
compared with that which would befall me if----"

Esther turned pale at his words, and felt herself fainting.

"Well, well," cried the sacrilegious forger, "have you not yet spelt out
your daisy-petals?"

Esther and Lucien came out, and the poor girl, not daring to look at the
mysterious man, said:

"You shall be obeyed as God is obeyed, monsieur."

"Good," said he. "You may be very happy for a time, and you will need
only nightgowns and wrappers--that will be very economical."

The two lovers went on towards the dining-room, but Lucien's patron
signed to the pretty pair to stop. And they stopped.

"I have just been talking of your servants, my child," said he to
Esther. "I must introduce them to you."

The Spaniard rang twice. The women he had called Europe and Asie came
in, and it was at once easy to see the reason of these names.

Asie, who looked as if she might have been born in the Island of Java,
showed a face to scare the eye, as flat as a board, with the copper
complexion peculiar to Malays, with a nose that looked as if it had been
driven inwards by some violent pressure. The strange conformation of the
maxillary bones gave the lower part of this face a resemblance to
that of the larger species of apes. The brow, though sloping, was not
deficient in intelligence produced by habits of cunning. Two fierce
little eyes had the calm fixity of a tiger's, but they never looked you
straight in the face. Asie seemed afraid lest she might terrify people.
Her lips, a dull blue, were parted over prominent teeth of dazzling
whiteness, but grown across. The leading expression of this animal
countenance was one of meanness. Her black hair, straight and
greasy-looking like her skin, lay in two shining bands, forming an edge
to a very handsome silk handkerchief. Her ears were remarkably pretty,
and graced with two large dark pearls. Small, short, and squat, Asie
bore a likeness to the grotesque figures the C