erfectly certain. In giving this assurance she sighed.
Lieut. Feraud called there nearly every afternoon, she added.

"Ah, bah!" exclaimed D'Hubert, ironically. His opinion of Madame de
Lionne went down several degrees. Lieut. Feraud did not seem to him
specially worthy of attention on the part of a woman with a reputation
for sensibility and elegance. But there was no saying. At bottom they
were all alike--very practical rather than idealistic. Lieut. D'Hubert,
however, did not allow his mind to dwell on these considerations.

"By thunder!" he reflected aloud. "The general goes there sometimes. If
he happens to find the fellow making eyes at the lady there will be the
devil to pay! Our general is not a very accommodating person, I can tell
you."

"Go quickly, then! Don't stand here now I've told you where he is!"
cried the girl, colouring to the eyes.

"Thanks, my dear! I don't know what I would have done without you."

After manifesting his gratitude in an aggressive way, which at first was
repulsed violently, and then submitted to with a sudden and still more
repellent indifference, Lieut. D'Hubert took his departure.

He clanked and jingled along the streets with a martial swagger. To
run a comrade to earth in a drawing-room where he was not known did
not trouble him in the least. A uniform is a passport. His position as
officier d'ordonnance of the general added to his assurance. Moreover,
now that he knew where to find Lieut. Feraud, he had no option. It was a
service matter.

Madame de Lionne's house had an excellent appearance. A man in livery,
opening the door of a large drawing-room with a waxed floor, shouted his
name and stood aside to let him pass. It was a reception day. The ladies
wore big hats surcharged with a profusion of feathers; their bodies
sheathed in clinging white gowns, from the armpits to the tips of the
low satin shoes, looked sylph-like and cool in a great display of bare
necks and arms. The men who talked with them, on the contrary, were
arrayed heavily in multi-coloured garments with collars up to their ears
and thick sashes round their waists. Lieut. D'Hubert made his unabashed
way across the room and, bowing low before a sylph-like form reclining
on a couch, offered his apologies for this intrusion, which nothing
could excuse but the extreme urgency of the service order he had to
communicate to his comrade Feraud. He proposed to himself to return
presently in a more regular manner