erge armed with the
gayest theories, knowing how to see without seeming to look, and
to lie boldly without blushing; in a word, ripe for society. The
directress of the boarding-school, a lady of the ton, who had met
with reverses, and who was a good deal more of a dressmaker than
a teacher, said of Mlle. Cesarine, who paid her three thousand
five hundred francs a year,

"She gives the greatest hopes for the future; and I shall certainly
make a superior woman of her."

But the opportunity was not allowed her. The Baroness de Thaller
discovered, one morning, that it was impossible for her to live
without her daughter, and that her maternal heart was lacerated by
a separation which was against the sacred laws of nature. She took
her home, therefore, declaring that nothing, henceforth, not even
her marriage, should separate them, and that she should finish
herself the education of the dear child. From that moment, in fact,
whoever saw the Baroness de Thaller would also see Mlle. Cesarine
following in her wake.

A girl of fifteen, discreet and well-trained, is a convenient
chaperon; a chaperon which enables a woman to show herself boldly
where she might not have dared to venture alone. In presence of
a mother followed by her daughter, disconcerted slander hesitates,
and dares not speak.

Under the pretext that Cesarine was still but a child and of no
consequence, Mme. de Thaller dragged her everywhere,--to the bois
and to the races, visiting and shopping, to balls and parties, to
the watering-places and the seashore, to the restaurant, and to
all the "first nights" at the Palais Royal, the Bouffes, the
Varietes, and the Delassements. It was, therefore, especially at
the theatre, that the education of Mlle. de Thaller, so happily
commenced, had received the finishing touch. At sixteen she was
thoroughly familiar with the repertoire of the genre theatres,
imitated Schneider far better than ever did Silly, and sang with
surprising intonations and astonishing gestures Blanche d'Autigny's
successful moods, and Theresa's most wanton verses.

Between times, she studied the fashion papers, and formed her
style in reading the "Vie Parisienne," whose most enigmatic articles
had no allusions sufficiently obscure to escape her penetration.

She learned to ride on horseback, to fence and to shoot, and
distinguished herself at pigeon-matches. She kept a betting-book,
played Trente et Quarante at Monaco; and Baccarat had n