-night.'

"'I will be there,' he replied, putting two louis in the duenna's
wrinkled hand.

"He rushed from his box, after a sign of intelligence to La Zambinella,
who lowered her voluptuous eyelids modestly, like a woman overjoyed to
be understood at last. Then he hurried home, in order to borrow from
his wardrobe all the charms it could loan him. As he left the theatre, a
stranger grasped his arm.

"'Beware, Signor Frenchman,' he said in his ear. 'This is a matter
of life and death. Cardinal Cicognara is her protector, and he is no
trifler.'

"If a demon had placed the deep pit of hell between Sarrasine and La
Zambinella, he would have crossed it with one stride at that moment.
Like the horses of the immortal gods described by Homer, the sculptor's
love had traversed vast spaces in a twinkling.

"'If death awaited me on leaving the house, I would go the more
quickly,' he replied.

"'_Poverino!_' cried the stranger, as he disappeared.

"To talk of danger to a man in love is to sell him pleasure. Sarrasine's
valet had never seen his master so painstaking in the matter of dress.
His finest sword, a gift from Bouchardon, the bow-knot Clotilde gave
him, his coat with gold braid, his waistcoat of cloth of silver, his
gold snuff-box, his valuable watch, everything was taken from its place,
and he arrayed himself like a maiden about to appear before her first
lover. At the appointed hour, drunk with love and boiling over with
hope, Sarrasine, his nose buried in his cloak, hurried to the rendezvous
appointed by the old woman. She was waiting.

"'You are very late,' she said. 'Come.'

"She led the Frenchman through several narrow streets and stopped
in front of a palace of attractive appearance. She knocked; the door
opened. She led Sarrasine through a labyrinth of stairways, galleries,
and apartments which were lighted only by uncertain gleams of moonlight,
and soon reached a door through the cracks of which stole a bright
light, and from which came the joyous sound of several voices. Sarrasine
was suddenly blinded when, at a word from the old woman, he was admitted
to that mysterious apartment and found himself in a salon as brilliantly
lighted as it was sumptuously furnished; in the centre stood a
bountifully supplied table, laden with inviolable bottles, with laughing
decanters whose red facets sparkled merrily. He recognized the singers
from the theatre, male and female, mingled with charming women, all
ready t