r its being considered _bon
genre_. So much for mere _words_. And when we come to consider the
deeds of this _haute extraction_ from a moral point of view--why, you
yourself have kept a record long enough to know that one may be very
well versed in the manners of a court, and may yet, as far as looseness
of principles is concerned, rival many a grisette, or, for that matter,
many a model; and that blue blood is quite as apt to run away with the
weaker sex as red. Those gentlemen, especially--to whom you would not
hesitate to trust Fraeulein Irene for an entire cotillion--may I be
allowed to remind you of certain stories, in connection with some of
your own partners? About Baron X., for instance, who--" and he bent
down over the old lady, and whispered for some time in her ear,
notwithstanding the comical struggles she made to protect herself from
the auricular confession thus forced upon her.

"_Mais vous etes affreux_," she cried out at length and struck at him
with her handkerchief, very much in the same way that one tries to rid
one's self of a swarm of importunate gnats.

"I beg a thousand pardons," growled Schnetz, again addressing himself
to Irene. "_C'est contre la bienseance, de chuchoter en societe_--you
see I haven't quite forgotten my catechism of good-breeding even yet,
though I do sometimes sin against it. I merely wished to convince the
countess that the '_Boheme_' from which I have chosen my friends, does
indeed consist of men, and not of angels, but that it would be
impossible for me to introduce the Fraeulein to any one there, from whom
the history of morals and civilization in this city could learn as much
as it could from certain members of the best circles."

The old countess hastily rose. Her face had grown very red, her
nostrils quivered. She gave a slight cough, and then said, turning with
a motherly smile to Irene, who was helping her on with her furs.

"_Ce cher Schnetz, il a toujours le petit mot pour rire._ Well, _ma
mignonne, faites ce que vous voudrez. Je m'en lave les mains. Adieu,
Baron! A tantot! Adieu, Schnetz_, you renegade, you horrid wretch! I
see it is true what the world says of you, and what I have always
disputed, that you have the most malicious tongue in the whole city."

She gave him as she passed a little tap, intended to be light and
coquettish, but really delivered so sharply that the recipient could
easily see how glad the same hand would have been to give him a more
f