not come in uniform, which is all the better where we are
going; besides, it gives me the hope of presenting you to my respected
aunt, the Duchesse de Montserrat, who will take your black coat as a
compliment to the whole Bourbon dynasty. You must come with me there, if
it only be for half an hour. And now tell me, have you ever dined at the
'Moisson d'Or'?"

"Never; not even heard of the house."

"Well, then, you shall to-day. And meanwhile I may tell you, that
although in a remote and little-visited quarter of Paris, it stands
unrivalled for the excellence of its fare and the rare delicacy of its
wines,--a reputation not of yesterday, but of some years' standing.
Nor is that the only thing remarkable about it, as I shall explain
hereafter. But come! How are your friends at the Hotel Clichy? and how
fares your suit with mademoiselle?"

"My suit? It never was such. You know, to the full as well as I do, my
pretensions aspired not half so high."

"So much the better, and so much the worse. I mean the former for me,
as I hate to have a friend for a rival; the latter for you, who ought to
have learned by this time that a handsome girl and a million of
francs are more easily won than a cross of the Legion or a colonel's
epaulette."

"And are you serious, Duchesne? Have you really intentions in that
quarter?"

"_Morbleu!_ to be sure I have. It is for that I am here in Paris in
the dog days; travelled one hundred and twenty leagues; ay, and
more, too,--have brought with me my most aristocratic aunt, who never
remembers in her life to have seen full-grown leaves in the Tuileries
gardens. I knew what an ally she would be in the negotiation; and so I
managed, through some friends in the bureau of the minister, to give her
a rare fright about an estate of hers, which by some accident escaped
confiscation in the Revolution, and which nothing but the greatest
efforts on her part could now rescue from the fangs of the crown. You
may be sure she is not particularly in love with the present Government
on this score; but the trick secures her speaking more guardedly than
she has the habit of doing, besides inducing her to make acquaintances
nothing but such a threat would accomplish."

"You intend, then, she should know Madame de Lacostellerie?"

"Of course. I have already persuaded her that the Hotel Clichy is the
pivot of all Paris, and that nothing but consummate tact and management
on her part will succeed there."

"But