to be deceived by the
comedies which men play than by their own. Mme. de Maufrigneuse
calculated, not without dismay, that the young Count's infatuation was
likely to hold good for six whole months of disinterested love. She
looked so lovely in this dove's mood, quenching the light in her eyes by
the golden fringe of their lashes, that when the Marquise d'Espard bade
her friend good-night, she whispered, "Good! very good, dear!" And with
those farewell words, the fair Marquise left her rival to make the tour
of the modern Pays du Tendre; which, by the way, is not so absurd a
conception as some appear to think. New maps of the country are engraved
for each generation; and if the names of the routes are different, they
still lead to the same capital city.

In the course of an hour's tete-a-tete, on a corner sofa, under the eyes
of the world, the Duchess brought young d'Esgrignon as far as Scipio's
Generosity, the Devotion of Amadis, and Chivalrous Self-abnegation
(for the Middle Ages were just coming into fashion, with their daggers,
machicolations, hauberks, chain-mail, peaked shoes, and romantic painted
card-board properties). She had an admirable turn, moreover, for leaving
things unsaid, for leaving ideas in a discreet, seeming careless way, to
work their way down, one by one, into Victurnien's heart, like needles
into a cushion. She possessed a marvelous skill in reticence; she was
charming in hypocrisy, lavish of subtle promises, which revived hope and
then melted away like ice in the sun if you looked at them closely, and
most treacherous in the desire which she felt and inspired. At the
close of this charming encounter she produced the running noose of an
invitation to call, and flung it over him with a dainty demureness which
the printed page can never set forth.

"You will forget me," she said. "You will find so many women eager to
pay court to you instead of enlightening you.... But you will come back
to me undeceived. Are you coming to me first?... No. As you will.--For
my own part, I tell you frankly that your visits will be a great
pleasure to me. People of soul are so rare, and I think that you are one
of them.--Come, good-bye; people will begin to talk about us if we talk
together any longer."

She made good her words and took flight. Victurnien went soon
afterwards, but not before others had guessed his ecstatic condition;
his face wore the expression peculiar to happy men, something between
an Inquis