andelier, whether that people might see them together
there, or whether he himself might see Rudolf better, I cannot say. The
two young belles, the queens of the ball, were walking in front of them,
arm-in-arm. How beautiful they both were!

"What a pair!" cried Kecskerey, rapturously. "To which of them would
that wretched mythological Paris have given the apple of Eris, if he had
had to choose between two such goddesses? And how they walk, arm-in-arm.
A true _belle alliance_! Nay, I express myself badly, I ought to say
_affreuse alliance_! Why, separately they are capable of subjugating the
world! Why need they combine their charms? My friend, beware of this
dangerous alliance; Madame Karpathy is a splendid woman."

"My wife is the prettier," replied Rudolf, with mild self-satisfaction.

"I honour you for that word, Rudolf. You are indeed a tender husband!
But your wife really is an angel. Madame Karpathy pales before her. Hers
is not the beauty which can interest men of genius, she is too
sensitive."

"Nay, nay; I will not have you depreciate her in order to cry up my
wife. On the contrary, I admit that Madame Karpathy is a very beautiful
woman; indeed to some person's tastes, she might appear the ideal of
loveliness."

"Yes, true; poor Abellino, for instance, at one time, would scarce allow
that a more beautiful woman had been born into the world since Helen of
Troy or Ninon d'Enclos. He was quite mad about her; ruined himself, in
fact, because of her. He spent sixty thousand florins upon her."

"What do you mean by that?" inquired Rudolf, much offended.

Kecskerey laughed good-humouredly. "Ma foi! that is a vain question from
you, Rudolf. As if you did not know that it is usual to spend something
on young women."

"But I know exactly what happened to Abellino when he forced six hundred
florins into the girl's hand, and the manner in which she flung them
back in his face was equivalent, among friends, to at least three boxes
on the ears. I remember it well, because it led to a duel, and I was one
of the seconds of Abellino's opponent."

"Ah ca, that's true! But you know how often it happens that when one has
flung back a paltry five or six hundred florins between the eyes of the
giver, one does not do the same with sixty thousand florins, when
offered afterwards. I do not say this from any wish to injure Madame
Karpathy, for, of course, nothing happened between them. But it is true,
nevertheless, that she a