ntellect. I took a pleasure in deciding some of them in her
favor, in order to flatter her; then I confuted her feminine reasoning
with a word, and roused her curiosity by drawing her attention to an
everyday matter--to sleep, a thing so apparently commonplace, that in
reality is an insoluble problem for science. The countess sat in silence
for a moment when I told her that our ideas were complete organic
beings, existing in an invisible world, and influencing our destinies;
and for witnesses I cited the opinions of Descartes, Diderot, and
Napoleon, who had directed, and still directed, all the currents of the
age.

"So I had the honor of amusing this woman; who asked me to come to see
her when she left me; giving me _les grande entrees_, in the language
of the court. Whether it was by dint of substituting polite formulas for
genuine expressions of feeling, a commendable habit of mine, or because
Foedora hailed in me a coming celebrity, an addition to her learned
menagerie; for some reason I thought that I had pleased her. I called
all my previous physiological studies and knowledge of woman to my aid,
and minutely scrutinized this singular person and her ways all evening.
I concealed myself in the embrasure of a window, and sought to discover
her thoughts from her bearing. I studied the tactics of the mistress of
the house, as she came and went, sat and chatted, beckoned to this one
or that, asked questions, listened to the answers, as she leaned against
the frame of the door; I detected a languid charm in her movements,
a grace in the flutterings of her dress, remarked the nature of the
feelings she so powerfully excited, and became very incredulous as to
her virtue. If Foedora would none of love to-day, she had had strong
passions at some time; past experience of pleasure showed itself in the
attitudes she chose in conversation, in her coquettish way of leaning
against the panel behind her; she seemed scarcely able to stand alone,
and yet ready for flight from too bold a glance. There was a kind of
eloquence about her lightly folded arms, which, even for benevolent
eyes, breathed sentiment. Her fresh red lips sharply contrasted with her
brilliantly pale complexion. Her brown hair brought out all the golden
color in her eyes, in which blue streaks mingled as in Florentine
marble; their expression seemed to increase the significance of her
words. A studied grace lay in the charms of her bodice. Perhaps a rival
might ha