ssmann had not yet arisen; and the capital's vulgarisation
under the Second Empire had not then begun. John Bull still gave it a
wide berth; nor, except for a few stray specimens, were there any
hordes of tourists to gape at the "Froggies." Everything was cheap;
and most things were nice. Paris really was _La ville lumiere_. Dull
care had been given its marching orders. All that was required of a
man was that he should be witty, and of a woman that she should be
entertaining. The world of the boulevards--with its cafes and
restaurants and theatres--was the accepted rallying point of the
authors and poets, the painters and musicians, and the lights
twinkling in the theatrical and journalistic firmaments, the men in
velveteen jackets and peg-top trousers, the women in flounced skirts
and shawls and elastic-sided boots. The mode of the moment.

[Illustration: _Abbe Liszt: Musician and Lover_]

Lola settled down among them, and was given a warm welcome. Among
others with whom she was soon on friendly terms was the famous (or,
perhaps, it would be better to say, notorious) Alphonsine Plessis. The
Lady of the Camelias had a large heart and a wide circle; and Liszt,
who was also back in Paris, was to be found among the guests attending
her "receptions" at her house on the Boulevard de la Madeleine. Lola,
who never cherished rancour, was prepared to let bygones be bygones,
and resumed relations with him. But this time they were short lived,
for the maestro was already dangling after another charmer, and, as
was his habit, left for Weimar without saying farewell. Lola took his
defection philosophically. As a matter of fact, she rather welcomed
it, for it solved a situation that was fast threatening to become
awkward. This was that she herself had now formed an intimacy with
somebody else.

Her new acquaintance was Charles Dujarier, a young man of five and
twenty, and a journalist of some distinction, being part proprietor
and feuilleton editor of _La Presse_. Lola met him in the friendly
atmosphere of a Bohemian cafe, where formal introductions were not
insisted upon. As was the custom in such an atmosphere, the friendship
ripened rapidly. Within a week of their first meeting the two set up
housekeeping together in the rue Lafitte. Before long there was talk
of marriage. But it did not get beyond talk, for Lola had put her head
in the matrimonial noose once--in her opinion, once too often--and she
had no desire to do so a sec