e already preparing to lie."

"Not at all, but I am seeking the words, the proper words. Great
Heavens, Prince Kravalow is a Russian, who speaks Russian, who was
born in Russia, who has perhaps had a passport to come to France,
and about whom there is nothing false but his name and title."

She looked him in the eyes: "You mean that he is--?"

"An adventurer, Mam'zelle."

"Thank you, and Chevalier Valreali is no better?" "You have hit it."

"And Monsieur de Belvigne?"

"With him it is a different thing. He is of provincial society,
honorable up to a certain point, but only a little scorched from
having lived too rapidly."

"And you?"

"I am what they call a butterfly, a man of good family, who had
intelligence and who has squandered it in making phrases, who had
good health and who has injured it by dissipation, who had some
worth perhaps and who has scattered it by doing nothing. There is
left to me a certain knowledge of life, a complete absence of
prejudice, a large contempt for mankind, including women, a very
deep sentiment of the uselessness of my acts and a vast tolerance
for the mob."

"Nevertheless, at times, I can be frank, and I am even capable of
affection, as you could see, if you would. With these defects and
qualities I place myself at your orders, Mam'zelle, morally and
physically, to do what you please with me."

She did not laugh; she listened, weighing his words and his
intentions; then she resumed:

"What do you think of the Countess de Lammy?"

He replied, vivaciously: "You will permit me not to give my opinion
about the women."

"About none of them?"

"About none of them." "Then you must have a bad opinion of them all.
Come, think; won't you make a single exception?"

He sneered with that insolent air which he generally wore; and with
that brutal audacity which he used as a weapon, he said: "Present
company is always excepted."

She blushed a little, but calmly asked: "Well, what do you think of
me?"

"You want me to tell. Well, so be it. I think you are a young person
of good sense, and practicalness, or if you prefer, of good
practical sense, who knows very well how to arrange her pastime, to
amuse people, to hide her views, to lay her snares, and who, without
hurrying, awaits events."

"Is that all?" she asked.

"That's all."

Then she said with a serious earnestness: "I shall make you change
that opinion, Muscade."

Then she joined her mother, who was proceeding w