they were not searching
all the nooks and corners of the apartment. 'Come, come,' she said, 4
do not distress yourself. Be calm, my dear...It hurts me to hear you cry
like that.... There will be no mischief done, I will vouch for it.'

"The marchioness, who was nearly fainting, and who was prostrate with
terror, could only sob out: 'Good heavens! Good heavens!'

"She scarcely seemed to be conscious of anything; her head seemed
vacant, her ears buzzed, and she felt benumbed, like one does when one
goes to sleep in the snow.

"Oh! Only to forget everything, as her love dream was over, to go out
quickly, like those little rose-colored tapers at Nice, on Shrove
Tuesday evening.

"Oh! Not to awake any more, as the to-morrow would come in, black and
sad, because a whole array of barristers, ushers, solicitors and judges
would be against her, and disturb her usual quietude, would torment her,
cover her with mud, as her delicious, amorous adventure--her
first--which had been so carefully enveloped in mystery, and had been
kept so secret behind closed shutters and thick veils, would become an
everyday episode of adultery, which would get wind, and be discussed
from door to door; the lilac had faded, and she was obliged to bid
farewell to happiness, as if to an old friend who was going far, very
far away, never to return!

"Suddenly, however, she started and sat up, with her neck stretched out
and her eyes fixed, while the excanteen-keeper, who was trembling with
emotion, put her hands to her left ear, which was her best, like a
speaking trumpet, and tried to hear the cries which succeeded each other
from room to room, amidst a noise of opening and shutting of doors.

"'Ah! upon my word, I am not blind....It is Monsieur de Tavernay who is
applying again, and making all that noise....Don't you hear, _Mame
Piquignolles, Mame Piquignolles!_ Saved, saved!' And she dashed out of
the cupboard like an unwieldy mass, with her cap all on one side, an
anxious look and heavy legs.

"Tavernay was still quite pale, and in a panting voice he cried out to
them: 'Nothing serious, only that fool Fremecourt, who lent me the
rooms, has forgotten to pay for his piano for the last five months, a
hundred francs a month....You understand ...they came to claim it, and
as we did not reply ...why, they fetched the Police Commissary, and so,
in the name of the law....

"'A nice fright to give one!' Madame Piquignolles said, throwing herself
onto