then, with a rapid gastronomic instinct, she darted
through Buvat's window with a single bound, and disappeared.

D'Harmental lowered his head, and, almost at the same instant, saw
Mirza coming across the street like a flash of lightning; and before he
had time to shut his window, she was already scratching at the door.
Luckily for D'Harmental, Mirza had the memory of sugar as strongly
developed as he had that of sounds.

It will be easily understood that the chevalier did not make the
charming little creature wait; and she darted into the room, bounding,
and giving the most unequivocal signs of her joy at his unexpected
return. As to D'Harmental, he was almost as happy as if he had seen
Bathilde. Mirza was something to the young girl; she was her dearly
loved greyhound, so caressed and kissed by her--who laid his head on her
knees during the day, and slept on the foot of her bed during the night.
The chevalier set Mirza to eat sugar, and sat down; and letting his
heart speak, and his pen flow, wrote the following letter:

"DEAREST BATHILDE--You believe me very guilty, do you
not? But you cannot know the strange circumstances in
which I find myself, and which are my excuse; if I
could be happy enough to see you for an instant--even
for an instant--you would understand that there are in
me two different persons--the young student of the
attic, and the gentleman of the fetes at Sceaux. Open
your window then, so that I may see you--or your door,
so that I may speak to you. Let me come and sue for
your pardon on my knees. I am certain that when you
know how unfortunate I am, and how devotedly I love
you, you will have pity on me.

"Adieu, once more; I love you more than I can
express!--more than you can believe--more than you can
ever imagine.

"RAOUL."

This billet, which would have appeared very cold to a woman of these
days, because it only said just what the writer intended, seemed
sufficient to the chevalier, and was really impassioned for the epoch;
thus D'Harmental folded it up, and attached it, as he had the first, to
Mirza's collar; then, taking up the sugar, which the greedy little
animal followed with her eyes to the cupboard, where D'Harmental shut
it up, the chevalier opened the door of his room, and showed Mirza, with
a gesture, what there remained for her to do. Whether it was pride or
intelligence, the little creature di