by Diana's success; for was it not for
him that she had displayed all her skill, and was not this a proof that
she still cherished a passion for him?

He was not, however, quite so much pleased when he met Madame de
Mussidan the next day in the Champs Elysees. She looked sad and
thoughtful.

"What has gone wrong?" asked he.

"I am very angry with myself for having listened to the voice of my own
heart and to your entreaties," answered she, "and I think that both of
us have committed a grave error."

"Indeed, and what have we done?"

"Norbert, your wife suspects something."

"Impossible! Why, she was praising you after you had left."

"If that is the case, then she is indeed a much more clever woman than
I had imagined, for she knows how to conceal her suspicions until she is
in a position to prove them."

Diana spoke with such a serious air of conviction, that Norbert became
quite alarmed.

"What shall we do?" asked he.

"The best thing would be to give up meeting each other, I think."

"Never; I tell you, never!"

"Let me reflect; in the meantime be prudent; for both our sakes, be
prudent."

To further his ends, Norbert entirely changed his mode of life. He
gave up going to his clubs, refused invitations to fast suppers, and no
longer spent his nights in gambling and drinking. He drove out with his
wife, and frequently spent his evenings with her, and at the club began
to be looked on as quite a model husband. This great change, however,
was not effected without many a severe inward struggle. He felt deeply
humiliated at the life of deception that he was forced to lead, but
Diana's hand, apparently so slight and frail, held him with a grip of
steel.

"We must live in this way," said she, in answer to his expostulations,
"first, because it must be so; and, secondly, because it is my will. On
our present mode of conduct depends all our future safety, and I wish
the Duchess to believe that with me happiness and content must have come
to her fireside."

Norbert could not gainsay this very reasonable proposition on the
part of Madame de Mussidan, for he was more in love than ever, and the
terrible fear that if he went in any way contrary to her wishes that
she would refuse to see him any more, stayed the words of objection that
rose to his lips.

After hesitating for a little longer, the Duchess made up her mind to
accept the offer of friendship which Diana had so ingenuously offered to
her, and finis