the dark head and
the brown hair, which rippled in little curls over her forehead. Her
complexion, slightly golden, was not protected by one of those absurd
hats which many bathers place on top of oiled silk caps which fit them
closely. Neither was the precaution of oiled silk wanted to protect the
thick and curling hair, now sprinkled with great drops that shone like
pearls and diamonds. The water, instead of plastering her hair upon her
temples, had made it more curly and more fleecy, as it hung over her
dark eyebrows, which, very near together at the nose, gave to her eyes a
peculiar, slightly oblique expression. Her teeth were dazzling, and
were displayed by the smile which parted her lips--lips which were, if
anything, too red for her pale complexion. She closed her eyelids now
and then to shade her eyes from the too blinding sunlight. Those eyes
were not black, but that hazel which has golden streaks. Though only
half open, they had quickly taken in the fact that the young man sitting
beside Madame de Villegry was very handsome.

As she went on with a swift step to her bathing-house, she drew out two
long pins from her back hair, shaking it and letting it fall down
her back with a slightly impatient and imperious gesture; she wished,
probably, that it might dry more quickly.

"The devil!" said M. de Cymier, watching her till she disappeared into
the bathing-house. "I never should have thought that it was all her own!
There is nothing wanting in her. That is a young creature it is pleasant
to see."

"Yes," said Madame de Villegry, quietly, "she will be very good-looking
when she is eighteen."

"Is she nearly eighteen?"

"She is and she is not, for time passes so quickly. A girl goes to sleep
a child, and wakes up old enough to be married. Would you like to be
informed, without loss of time, as to her fortune?"

"Oh! I should not care much about her dot. I look out first for other
things."

"I know, of course; but Jacqueline de Nailles comes of a very good
family."

"Is she the daughter of the deputy?"

"Yes, his only daughter. He has a pretty house in the Parc Monceau and a
chateau of some importance in the Haute-Vienne."

"Very good; but, I repeat, I am not mercenary. Of course, if I should
marry, I should like, for my wife's sake, to live as well as a married
man as I have lived as a bachelor."

"Which means that you would be satisfied with a fortune equal to your
own. I should have thought you mi