knew
what he had come for, she was his, and the young soldier, who was half
dazed at his unexpected victory and good fortune, did not leave her until
after twelve o'clock. He returned every night at ten, rang the bell, and
was admitted by the girl's slyly-smiling confidante, and a few moments
later was clasping his little goddess, who used to wrap her delicate,
white limbs sometimes in dark sable, and at others in princely ermine,
in his arms. Every time they partook of a delicious supper, laughed and
joked and loved each other like only young, good-looking people do love,
and frequently they entertained one another until morning.

Once the cadet attempted diffidently to pay the housekeeper for her
services, and also for the supper, but she refused his money with a
laugh, and said that everything was already settled; and the young
soldier had reveled in this manner in boundless bliss for four months,
when, by an unfortunate accident, he met his mistress in the street one
day. She was alone, but in spite of this she contracted her delicate,
finely-arched eyebrows angrily, when he was about to speak to her, and
turned her head away. This hurt the honest young fellow's feelings, and
when that evening she drew him to her bosom, that was rising and falling
tempestuously under the black velvet that covered it, he remonstrated
with her quietly, but emphatically.--She made a little grimace, and
looking at him coldly and angrily, she at last said, shortly: "I forbid
you to take any notice of me out of doors. I do not choose to recognize
you; do you understand?"

The cadet was surprised and did not reply, but the harmony of his
pleasures was destroyed by a harsh discord. For some time he bore his
misery in silence and with resignation, but at last the situation became
unendurable; his mistress's fiery kisses seemed to mock him, and the
pleasure which she gave him to degrade him, so at last he summoned up
courage, and in his open way, he came straight to the point.

"What do you think of our future, Angelica?" She wrinkled her brows a
little. "Do not let us talk about it; at any rate not to-day." "Why not?
We must talk about it sooner or later," he replied, "and I think it is
high time for me to explain my intentions to you, if I do not wish to
appear as a dishonorable scoundrel in your eyes." She looked at him in
surprise. "I look upon you as one of the best and most honorable of men,
Max," she said, soothingly, after a pause.