three hundred
thousand francs in building a mausoleum for a wife whom he has never
ceased to mourn."

"After all, monsieur, who are you?" said the Duc de Rhetore, again
interrupting him with ill-restrained impatience.

"Presently," replied Monsieur Dorlange, "I shall have the honor to tell
you; you must now permit me to add that the property of which you say
you have been disinherited Madame Marie-Gaston had the right to dispose
of without any remorse of conscience. It came from her first husband,
the Baron de Macumer; and she had, previously to that marriage, given up
her own property in order to constitute a fortune for your brother,
the Duc de Lenoncourt-Givry, who, as younger son, had not, like you,
Monsieur le Duc, the advantages of an entail."

So saying, Monsieur Dorlange felt in his pocket for his card-case.

"I have no cards with me," he said at last, "but my name is Dorlange, a
theatrical name, easy to remember, and I live at No. 42 rue de l'Ouest."

"Not a very central quarter," remarked Monsieur de Rhetore, ironically.
Then turning to Monsieur de Ronquerolles, whom he thus constituted one
of his seconds, "I beg your pardon, my dear fellow," he said, "for
the voyage of discovery you will have to undertake for me to-morrow
morning." And then almost immediately he added: "Come to the foyer; we
can talk there with greater _safety_."

By his manner of accenting the last word it was impossible to mistake
the insulting meaning he intended to attach to it.

The two gentlemen having left their seats, without this scene attracting
any notice, in consequence of the stalls being empty for the most
part during the entr'acte, Monsieur Dorlange saw at some distance the
celebrated sculptor Stidmann, and went up to him.

"Have you a note-book of any kind in your pocket?" he said.

"Yes, I always carry one."

"Will you lend it to me and let me tear out a page? I have an idea in
my mind which I don't want to lose. If I do not see you again after
the play to make restitution, I will send it to you to-morrow morning
without fail."

Returning to his place, Monsieur Dorlange sketched something rapidly,
and when the curtain rose and the two gentlemen returned to their seats,
he touched the Duc de Rhetore lightly on the shoulder and said, giving
him the drawing:--

"My card, which I have the honor to present to you."

This "card" was a charming sketch of an architectural design placed in a
landscape. Beneath it was w