against the darkness of her skin.

"Mon fils, as-tu du coeur?" she cried when she saw me, and then
giggled. Her laugh had always been a very cheerful one, and at times it
even sounded sincere.

"Tout autre--" I began, paraphrasing Corneille.

"See here," she prattled on. "Please search for my stockings, and help
me to dress. Aussi, si tu n'es pas trop bete je te prends a Paris. I am
just off, let me tell you."

"This moment?"

"In half an hour."

True enough, everything stood ready-packed--trunks, portmanteaux, and
all. Coffee had long been served.

"Eh bien, tu verras Paris. Dis donc, qu'est-ce que c'est qu'un
'utchitel'? Tu etais bien bete quand tu etais 'utchitel.' Where are my
stockings? Please help me to dress."

And she lifted up a really ravishing foot--small, swarthy, and not
misshapen like the majority of feet which look dainty only in bottines.
I laughed, and started to draw on to the foot a silk stocking, while
Mlle. Blanche sat on the edge of the bed and chattered.

"Eh bien, que feras-tu si je te prends avec moi? First of all I must
have fifty thousand francs, and you shall give them to me at Frankfurt.
Then we will go on to Paris, where we will live together, et je te
ferai voir des etoiles en plein jour. Yes, you shall see such women as
your eyes have never lit upon."

"Stop a moment. If I were to give you those fifty thousand francs, what
should I have left for myself?"

"Another hundred thousand francs, please to remember. Besides, I could
live with you in your rooms for a month, or even for two; or even for
longer. But it would not take us more than two months to get through
fifty thousand francs; for, look you, je suis bonne enfante, et tu
verras des etoiles, you may be sure."

"What? You mean to say that we should spend the whole in two months?"

"Certainly. Does that surprise you very much? Ah, vil esclave! Why, one
month of that life would be better than all your previous existence.
One month--et apres, le deluge! Mais tu ne peux comprendre. Va! Away,
away! You are not worth it.--Ah, que fais-tu?"

For, while drawing on the other stocking, I had felt constrained to
kiss her. Immediately she shrunk back, kicked me in the face with her
toes, and turned me neck and prop out of the room.

"Eh bien, mon 'utchitel'," she called after me, "je t'attends, si tu
veux. I start in a quarter of an hour's time."

I returned to my own room with my head in a whirl. It was not my fault
that Po