ide his interests to the imbecile who ruined himself for the woman
who has been the talk of all Paris? I am not a great lord, I have
neither an historical name to tarnish, nor an immense fortune to lose. I
am plain Noel Gerdy, a advocate. My reputation is all that I possess. It
is a false one, I admit. Such as it is, however, I must keep it, and I
will keep it."

Juliette who knew her Noel thoroughly, saw that she had gone far
enough. She determined, therefore, to put him in a good humor again. "My
friend," said she, tenderly, "I did not wish to cause you pain. You must
be indulgent, I am so horribly nervous this evening."

This sudden change delighted the advocate, and almost sufficed to calm
his anger. "You will drive me mad with your injustice," said he. "While
I exhaust my imagination to find what can be agreeable to you, you are
perpetually attacking my gravity; yet it is not forty-eight hours since
we were plunged in all the gaiety of the carnival. I kept the fete of
Shrove Tuesday like a student. We went to a theatre; I then put on a
domino, and accompanied you to the ball at the opera, and even invited
two of my friends to sup with us."

"It was very gay indeed!" answered the young woman, making a wry face.

"So I think."

"Do you! Then you are not hard to please. We went to the Vaudeville, it
is true, but separately, as we always do, I alone above, you below. At
the ball you looked as though you were burying the devil. At the supper
table your friends were as melancholy as a pair of owls. I obeyed your
orders by affecting hardly to know you. You imbibed like a sponge,
without my being able to tell whether you were drunk or not."

"That proves," interrupted Noel, "that we ought not to force our tastes.
Let us talk of something else."

He took a few steps in the room, then looking at his watch said: "Almost
one o'clock; my love, I must leave you."

"What! you are not going to remain?"

"No, to my great regret; my mother is dangerously ill."

He unfolded and counted out on the table the bank notes he had received
from old Tabaret.

"My little Juliette," said he, "here are not eight thousand francs, but
ten thousand. You will not see me again for a few days."

"Are you leaving Paris, then?"

"No; but my entire time will be absorbed by an affair of immense
importance to myself. If I succeed in my undertaking, my dear, our
future happiness is assured, and you will then see whether I love you!"

"Oh,