s and souvenirs went to the shops of the various dealers,
where no one on seeing them would know how those flowers of luxury had
been originally paid for. It was agreed that a few little necessary
articles should be left, for Florine's personal convenience until
evening,--her bed, a table, a few chairs, and china enough to give her
guests their breakfast.

Having gone to sleep beneath the draperies of wealth and luxury, these
distinguished men awoke to find themselves within bare walls, full of
nail-holes, degraded into abject poverty.

"Why, Florine!--The poor girl has been seized for debt!" cried Bixiou,
who was one of the guests. "Quick! a subscription for her!"

On this they all roused up. Every pocket was emptied and produced a
total of thirty-seven francs, which Raoul carried in jest to Florine's
bedside. She burst out laughing and lifted her pillow, beneath which lay
a mass of bank-notes to which she pointed.

Raoul called to Blondet.

"Ah! I see!" cried Blondet. "The little cheat has sold herself out
without a word to us. Well done, you little angel!"

Thereupon, the actress was borne in triumph into the dining-room where
most of the party still remained. The lawyer and du Tillet had departed.

That evening Florine had an ovation at the theatre; the story of her
sacrifice had circulated among the audience.

"I'd rather be applauded for my talent," said her rival in the
green-room.

"A natural desire in an actress who has never been applauded at all,"
remarked Florine.

During the evening Florine's maid installed her in Raoul's apartment in
the Passage Sandrie. Raoul himself was to encamp in the house where the
office of the new journal was established.

Such was the rival of the innocent Madame de Vandenesse. Raoul was the
connecting link between the actress and the countess,--a knot severed
by a duchess in the days of Louis XV. by the poisoning of Adrienne
Lecouvreur; a not inconceivable vengeance, considering the offence.

Florine, however, was not in the way of Raoul's dawning passion. She
foresaw the lack of money in the difficult enterprise he had undertaken,
and she asked for leave of absence from the theatre. Raoul conducted
the negotiation in a way to make himself more than ever valuable to her.
With the good sense of the peasant in La Fontaine's fable, who makes
sure of a dinner while the patricians talk, the actress went into the
provinces to cut faggots for her celebrated man while he wa