well--I don't pay for them--there's the difference. Do you suppose
that I, Baron Trigault, that I've worked like a negro for twenty years
merely for the purpose of aiding your charming and useful branch of
industry? Gather up your papers, Mr. Ladies' Tailor. There may
be husbands who believe themselves responsible for their wives'
follies--it's quite possible there are--but I'm not made of that kind
of stuff. I allow Madame Trigault eight thousand francs a month for
her toilette--that is sufficient--and it is a matter for you and her to
arrange together. What did I tell you last year when I paid a bill of
forty thousand francs? That I would not be responsible for any more of
my wife's debts. And I not only said it, I formally notified you through
my private secretary."

"I remember, indeed----"

"Then why do you come to me with your bill? It is with my wife that you
have opened an account. Apply to her, and leave me in peace."

"Madame promised me----"

"Teach her to keep her promises."

"It costs a great deal to retain one's position as a leader of fashion;
and many of the most distinguished ladies are obliged to run into debt,"
urged Van Klopen.

"That's their business. But my wife is not a fine lady. She is simply
Madame Trigault, a baroness, thanks to her husband's gold and the
condescension of a worthy German prince, who was in want of money. SHE
is not a person of consequence--she has no rank to keep up."

The baroness must have attached immense importance to the satisfying of
Van Klopen's demands, for concealing the anger this humiliating scene
undoubtedly caused her, she condescended to try and explain, and even to
entreat. "I have been a little extravagant, perhaps," she said; "but I
will be more prudent in future. Pay, monsieur--pay just once more."

"No!"

"If not for my sake, for your own."

"Not a farthing."

By the baron's tone, Pascal realized that his wife would never shake
his fixed determination. Such must also have been the opinion of the
illustrious ruler of fashion, for he returned to the charge with an
argument he had held in reserve. "If this is the case, I shall, to my
great regret, be obliged to fail in the respect I owe to Monsieur le
Baron, and to place this bill in the hands of a solicitor."

"Send him along--send him along."

"I cannot believe that monsieur wishes a law-suit."

"In that you are greatly mistaken. Nothing would please me better. It
would at last give me an op