her sitting up in bed, her countenance flushed
and excited, and her eyes red from the tears she had evidently just been
shedding. My heart was beating quickly, yet I did not know why.

"Pray be seated," she said, "I wish to speak with you."

"Madam," I answered, "I am not worthy of so great a favour, and I have
not yet done anything to deserve it; allow me to remain standing."

She very likely recollected that she had never been so polite before, and
dared not press me any further. She collected her thoughts for an instant
or two, and said to me:

"Last evening my husband lost two hundred sequins upon trust at your faro
bank; he believed that amount to be in my hands, and I must therefore
give it to him immediately, as he is bound in honour to pay his losses
to-day. Unfortunately I have disposed of the money, and I am in great
trouble. I thought you might tell Maroli that I have paid you the amount
lost by my husband. Here is a ring of some value; keep it until the 1st
of January, when I will return the two hundred sequins for which I am
ready to give you my note of hand."

"I accept the note of hand, madam, but I cannot consent to deprive you of
your ring. I must also tell you that M. F---- must go himself to the bank,
or send some one there, to redeem his debt. Within ten minutes you shall
have the amount you require."

I left her without waiting for an answer, and I returned within a few
minutes with the two hundred ducats, which I handed to her, and putting
in my pocket her note of hand which she had just written, I bowed to take
my leave, but she addressed to me these precious words:

"I believe, sir, that if I had known that you were so well disposed to
oblige me, I could not have made up my mind to beg that service from
you."

"Well, madam, for the future be quite certain that there is not a man in
the world capable of refusing you such an insignificant service whenever
you will condescend to ask for it in person."

"What you say is very complimentary, but I trust never to find myself
again under the necessity of making such a cruel experiment."

I left Madame F-----, thinking of the shrewdness of her answer. She had
not told me that I was mistaken, as I had expected she would, for that
would have caused her some humiliation: she knew that I was with M.
D---- R---- when the adjutant had brought her letter, and she could not
doubt that I was aware of the refusal she had met with. The fact of her
not men