yourself well."

"Admirably."

"And Madame de T-----?"

"Is adorable."

"To think of being able to win such a woman!" said he, stopping short
in our walk, and looking triumphantly at me. "Oh, what pains I have
taken with her! And I have at last brought her to a point where she is
perhaps the only woman in Paris on whose fidelity a man may infallibly
count!"

"You have succeeded--?"

"Yes; in that lies my special talent. Her inconstancy was mere
frivolity, unrestrained imagination. It was necessary to change that
disposition of hers, but you have no idea of her attachment to me. But
really, is she not charming?"

"I quite agree with you."

"And yet _entre nous_ I recognize one fault in her. Nature in giving
her everything, has denied her that flame divine which puts the crown
on all other endowments; while she rouses in others the ardor of
passion, she feels none herself, she is a thing of marble."

"I am compelled to believe you, for I have had no opportunity of
judging, but do you think that you know that woman as well as if you
were her husband? It is possible to be deceived. If I had not dined
yesterday with the veritable--I should take you--"

"By the way, has he been good?"

"Oh, I was received like a dog!"

"I understand. Let us go in, let us look for Madame de T-----. She
must be up by this time."

"But should we not out of decency begin with the husband?" I said to
him.

"You are right. Let us go to your room, I wish to put on a little
powder. But tell me, did he really take you for her lover?"

"You may judge by the way he receives me; but let us go at once to his
apartment."

I wished to avoid having to lead him to an apartment whose whereabouts
I did not know; but by chance we found it. The door was open and there
I saw my _valet de chambre_ asleep on an armchair. A candle was going
out on a table beside him. He drowsily offered a night robe to the
marquis. I was on pins and needles; but the marquis was in a mood to
be easily deceived, took the man for a mere sleepy-head, and made a
joke of the matter. We passed on to the apartment of Monsieur de
T-----. There was no misunderstanding the reception which he accorded
me, and the welcome, the compliments which he addressed to the
marquis, whom he almost forced to stay. He wished to take him to
madame in order that she might insist on his staying. As for me, I
received no such invitation. I was reminded that my health was
delicate, the cou