self entirely at her service, and
that some day she might be very glad to meet him--

"I thank you, Monsieur le Prefet, and I will avail myself of your
kindness," replied Marianne, out of courtesy.

Something suggested to her that Guy would pay his respects to her during
the next entr'acte, were it only to jest about Jouvenet's visit, seeing
that he was regarded as a compromising acquaintance, and she was not
wrong.

Behind his monocle, his keen, mocking glance seemed like a taunting
smile.

"Well," he said, in a somewhat abrupt tone, as he sat near Marianne, "I
congratulate you, my dear friend."

"Why?" she answered with surprise.

"On the great news, _parbleu!_ Your marriage."

She turned slightly pale.

"How do you know?--"

"I have seen the duke. He called on me."

"On you? What for?"

"Can't you make a little guess--a very little guess--"

"To ask you if I had been your mistress? Lissac, you are very silly."

"Yes, my dear Marianne, prepare yourself somewhat for the position of a
duchess. A gentleman, to whom you have sworn that I have never been
your lover, could not doubt your word!--Jose asked me nothing. He simply
stated his determination to see what I would say, or gather from my
looks what I thought of it."

"And you said?"

"What I had to say to him: I congratulated him!"

Marianne raised her gray eyes to Lissac's face.

"Congratulate?" she said slowly.

"The woman he marries is pretty enough, I think?"

"Ah! my dear, a truce to insolent trifles!--what is it that has
possessed you for some time past?"

"Nothing, but something has possessed you--or some one."

"Rosas?"

"No, Vaudrey!"

"I will restore him to you. Oh! oh! you are surprisingly interested in
Vaudrey. Vaudrey or his wife?" she remarked.

She smiled with her wicked expression.

"Duchess," said Lissac, "accustom yourself to respect virtuous women!"

"Is it to talk of such pleasant trifles that you have gained access to
my box?"

"No, it is to ask you for some special information."

"What?"

"Is it true, is it really true that you are about to wed Rosas?" he
asked in an almost cordial tone.

"Why not?" she replied, as she raised her head.

"Because--I am going to be frank--I have always regarded you as an
absolutely straightforward woman, a woman of honor--You once claimed so
to be. Mad, fantastic, you often are; charming, always; but dishonest,
never. To take Rosas's love, even his fortune, would be natura