dear sir, all Paris would be laughing at
you. Men do not fight for Nana; it would be ridiculous."

The count grew very pale and made a violent gesture.

"Then I shall slap his face in the open street."

For an hour Labordette had to argue with him. A blow would make the
affair odious; that evening everyone would know the real reason of the
meeting; it would be in all the papers. And Labordette always finished
with the same expression:

"It is impossible; it would be ridiculous."

Each time Muffat heard these words they seemed sharp and keen as a stab.
He could not even fight for the woman he loved; people would have burst
out laughing. Never before had he felt more bitterly the misery of his
love, the contrast between his heavy heart and the absurdity of this
life of pleasure in which it was now lost. This was his last rebellion;
he allowed Labordette to convince him, and he was present afterward at
the procession of his friends, who lived there as if at home.

Nana in a few months finished them up greedily, one after the other. The
growing needs entailed by her luxurious way of life only added fuel to
her desires, and she finished a man up at one mouthful. First she had
Foucarmont, who did not last a fortnight. He was thinking of leaving
the navy, having saved about thirty thousand francs in his ten years of
service, which he wished to invest in the United States. His instincts,
which were prudential, even miserly, were conquered; he gave her
everything, even his signature to notes of hand, which pledged his
future. When Nana had done with him he was penniless. But then she
proved very kind; she advised him to return to his ship. What was the
good of getting angry? Since he had no money their relations were no
longer possible. He ought to understand that and to be reasonable. A
ruined man fell from her hands like a ripe fruit, to rot on the ground
by himself.

Then Nana took up with Steiner without disgust but without love. She
called him a dirty Jew; she seemed to be paying back an old grudge, of
which she had no distinct recollection. He was fat; he was stupid, and
she got him down and took two bites at a time in order the quicker to
do for this Prussian. As for him, he had thrown Simonne over. His
Bosphorous scheme was getting shaky, and Nana hastened the downfall by
wild expenses. For a month he struggled on, doing miracles of finance.
He filled Europe with posters, advertisements and prospectuses of a
col