I will belong to
you, only for to-night, however, and in return you must promise me not
to rave about me, or to follow me, from to-night. Will you do this?"

The wretched Idealist was kneeling before her; he was having a terrible
mental struggle.

"Will you promise me to do this?" she said again.

"Yes," he said, almost groaning.

The next morning a man, who had buried his Ideal, tottered downstairs.
He was pale enough; almost as pale as a corpse; but in spite of this, he
is still alive, and if he has any Ideal at all at present, it is
certainly not a theatrical princess.

STABLE PERFUME

Three ladies belonging to that class of society which has nothing useful
to do, and therefore does not know how to employ its time sensibly, were
sitting on a bench in the shade of some pine trees at Ischl, and were
talking incidentally of their preference for all sorts of smells.

One of the ladies, Princess F----, a slim, handsome brunette, declared
there was nothing like the smell of Russian leather; she wore dull brown
Russian leather boots, a Russian leather dress suspender, to keep her
petticoats out of the dirt and dust, a Russian leather belt which
spanned her wasp-like waist, carried a Russian leather purse, and even
wore a brooch and bracelet of gilt Russian leather; people declared that
her bedroom was papered with Russian leather, and that her lover was
obliged to wear high Russian leather boots and tight breeches, but that
on the other hand, her husband was excused from wearing anything at all
in Russian leather.

Countess H----, a very stout lady, who had formerly been very beautiful
and of a very loving nature, but loving after the fashion of her time _a
la_ Parthenia and Griseldis, could not get over the vulgar taste of the
young Princess. All she cared for was the smell of hay, and she it was
who brought the scent _New Mown Hay_ into fashion. Her ideal was a
freshly mown field in the moonlight, and when she rolled slowly along,
she looked like a moving haystack, and exhaled an odor of hay all about
her.

The third lady's taste was even more peculiar than Countess H----'s, and
more vulgar than the Princess's, for the small, delicate, light-haired
Countess W---- lived only for--the smell of stables. Her friends could
absolutely not understand this; the Princess raised her beautiful, full
arm with its broad bracelet to her Grecian nose and inhaled the sweet
smell of the Russian leather, while the senti