r pleasures. And,
for that matter, the Duchesse de Maufrigneuse is at least the equal of a
Marchesa di Spinola."

And, on the strength of his genealogical tree, the old man swung himself
off with a coxcomb's air, as if he himself had once made a conquest of
the Marchesa di Spinola, and still possessed the Duchess of to-day.

The two companions in unhappiness were left together on the garden
bench, with the same thought for a bond of union. They sat for a long
time, saying little save vague, unmeaning words, watching the father
walk away in his happiness, gesticulating as if he were talking to
himself.

"What will become of him now?" Mlle. Armande asked after a while.

"Du Croisier has sent instructions to the MM. Keller; he is not to be
allowed to draw any more without authorization."

"And there are debts," continued Mlle. Armande.

"I am afraid so."

"If he is left without resources, what will he do?"

"I dare not answer that question to myself."

"But he must be drawn out of that life, he must come back to us, or he
will have nothing left."

"And nothing else left to him," Chesnel said gloomily. But Mlle. Armande
as yet did not and could not understand the full force of those words.

"Is there any hope of getting him away from that woman, that Duchess?
Perhaps she leads him on."

"He would not stick at a crime to be with her," said Chesnel, trying to
pave the way to an intolerable thought by others less intolerable.

"Crime," repeated Mlle. Armande. "Oh, Chesnel, no one but you would
think of such a thing!" she added, with a withering look; before such
a look from a woman's eyes no mortal can stand. "There is but one crime
that a noble can commit--the crime of high treason; and when he is
beheaded, the block is covered with a black cloth, as it is for kings."

"The times have changed very much," said Chesnel, shaking his head.
Victurnien had thinned his last thin, white hairs. "Our Martyr-King did
not die like the English King Charles."

That thought soothed Mlle. Armande's splendid indignation; a shudder ran
through her; but still she did not realize what Chesnel meant.

"To-morrow we will decide what we must do," she said; "it needs thought.
At the worst, we have our lands."

"Yes," said Chesnel. "You and M. le Marquis own the estate conjointly;
but the larger part of it is yours. You can raise money upon it without
saying a word to him."

The players at whist, reversis, boston, and backgammon