d more
enthusiastic applause than any other man in the entire theatre."

"It is his art, Captain Joliette! I tell you that man is as cunning as a
serpent and as remorseless as a tiger. Only this morning he sought to
gain access to me, with what iniquitous motive I know not; but I
returned his letter, with an answer that must have galled his pride to
the quick!"

"I saw that answer," said the Captain. "Monte-Cristo showed it to me
himself at his residence, the Palazzo Costi."

"What!" cried Mlle. d' Armilly, with augmented anger. "You saw it, read
my very words, and yet brought him to your box?"

"Listen, Louise, and be reasonable. He told me that your name seemed
familiar to him and yet he could not recall where or under what
circumstances he had heard it. He was astonished at the tone of your
reply to his formal and, I must say, very civil note. I was sure there
must be some mistake on your part, that you had confounded him with some
other person. I had gone to the Palazzo Costi expressly to invite him to
hear you sing, to have such a great man present and assist at your
triumph! I felt proud of you, Louise, proud of you as an artiste and as
a woman, and I wanted my friend of friends to share my exalted
appreciation of you. Such were the reasons that induced me to bring him
to my box to-night, and, surely, if I committed an error, I deserve
pardon for my motives!"

"I will never pardon you, be your motives what they may!" cried Mlle. d'
Armilly, vindictively. "His presence ruined the performance and
disgraced me, me, Louise d' Armilly, in the eyes of all Rome!"

The Captain stood speechless, appalled by her fury. White with rage, her
eyes flashing and her bosom heaving, she looked like some beautiful
demon.

"I would have triumphed as usual had he not been here," she continued,
furiously and bitterly, "and to-morrow the Eternal City would have been
at my feet, I would have been an acknowledged queen, nay, even greater
than any sovereign alive, but now I have failed and am nothing! Captain
Joliette, for all this you are to blame, and yet you think you deserve
pardon for your motives! Why, man, you are worse than an idiot! No, I
will never pardon you, never!"

She strode about the dressing-room as she spoke, her small, white hands
working as if ready to tear the young soldier to pieces. Joliette
watched her for an instant and then said:

"You are a singular creature, Louise, a problem that I must admit I
cann