uenced--I should rather say decided--by the
exalted positions which both these gentlemen occupied, by the public
consideration they enjoyed, and the honored names they bore. And that
same week this house was rented and furnished, and I was installed in it
under the name of Lia d'Argeles.

"But this was not all. There still remained the task of creating
for myself one of those scandalous reputations that attract public
attention. This proved an easy task, thanks to the assistance of my
silent partners, and the innocent simplicity of several of their friends
and certain journalists. As for myself, I did my best to insure the
success of the horrible farce which was to lend infamous notoriety
to the name of Lia d'Argeles. I had magnificent equipages and superb
dresses, and I made myself conspicuous at the theatres and all places of
public resort. As is generally the case when one is acting contrary to
conscience, I called the most absurd sophistries to my assistance. I
tried to convince myself that appearances are nothing, that reality is
everything, and that it did not matter if I were known as a courtesan
since rumor lied, and my life WAS really chaste. When the baron hastened
to me and tried to rescue me from the abyss into which I had flung
myself; it was too late. I had discovered that the business would prove
successful; and for your sake, I longed for money as passionately, as
madly, as any miser. Last year my gaming-room yielded more than one
hundred and fifty thousand francs clear profit, and I received as my
share the thirty-five thousand francs which you squandered. Now you know
me as I really am. My associates, my partners, the men whose secret
I have faithfully kept, walk the streets with their heads erect. They
boast of their unsullied honor, and they are respected by every one.
Such is the truth, and I have no reason to make their disgrace known.
Besides, if I proclaimed it from the house-tops, no one would believe
me. But you are my son, and I owe you the truth, the whole truth!"

In any age but the present, Madame d'Argeles's story would have seemed
absolutely incredible. Nowadays, however, such episodes are by no means
rare. Two men--two men of exalted rank and highly respected, to use a
common expression--associate in opening a gaming-house under the very
eyes of the police, and in coining money out of a woman's supposed
disgrace. 'Tis after all but an everyday occurrence.

The unhappy woman had told he