a subtle association of myself with that unspeakable creature which
soils and insults me. The Marquis is a dullard whose wooing takes the
form at best of stilted compliments, stupid and unoriginal. They gain
nothing when they fall from lips still warm from the contamination of
that woman's kisses."

So utterly scandalized was madame that for a moment she remained
speechless. Then--

"Mon Dieu!" she exclaimed. "I should never have suspected you of so
indelicate an imagination."

"I cannot help it, madame. Each time his lips touch my fingers I find
myself thinking of the last object that they touched. I at once retire
to wash my hands. Next time, madame, unless you are good enough to
convey my message to him, I shall call for water and wash them in his
presence."

"But what am I to tell him? How... in what words can I convey such a
message?" Madame was aghast.

"Be frank with him, madame. It is easiest in the end. Tell him that
however impure may have been his life in the past, however impure he
intend that it shall be in the future, he must at least study purity
whilst approaching with a view to marriage a virgin who is herself pure
and without stain."

Madame recoiled, and put her hands to her ears, horror stamped on her
handsome face. Her massive bosom heaved.

"Oh, how can you?" she panted. "How can you make use of such terrible
expressions? Wherever have you learnt them?"

"In church," said Aline.

"Ah, but in church many things are said that... that one would not dream
of saying in the world. My dear child, how could I possibly say such a
thing to M. le Marquis? How could I possibly?"

"Shall I say it?"

"Aline!"

"Well, there it is," said Aline. "Something must be done to shelter me
from insult. I am utterly disgusted with M. le Marquis--a disgusting man.
And however fine a thing it may be to become Marquise de La Tour d'Azyr,
why, frankly, I'd sooner marry a cobbler who practised decency."

Such was her vehemence and obvious determination that Mme. de Sautron
fetched herself out of her despair to attempt persuasion. Aline was her
niece, and such a marriage in the family would be to the credit of the
whole of it. At all costs nothing must frustrate it.

"Listen, my dear," she said. "Let us reason. M. le Marquis is away and
will not be back until to-morrow."

"True. And I know where he has gone--or at least whom he has gone with.
Mon Dieu, and the drab has a father and a lout of a fellow who inte