did not
come till the next day. Being questioned by Asie, the servant revealed
to this female spy the terrible effects of the notes written to Monsieur
le Baron by his mistress.

"Monsieur must be desperately in love with the woman," said he in
conclusion, "for he was very near dying. For my part, I advised him
never to go back to her, for he will be wheedled over at once. A woman
who has already cost Monsieur le Baron five hundred thousand francs,
they say, without counting what he has spent on the house in the Rue
Saint-Georges! But the woman cares for money, and for money only.--As
madame came out of monsieur's room, she said with a laugh: 'If this goes
on, that slut will make a widow of me!'"

"The devil!" cried Asie; "it will never do to kill the goose that lays
the golden eggs."

"Monsieur le Baron has no hope now but in you," said the valet.

"Ay! The fact is, I do know how to make a woman go."

"Well, walk in," said the man, bowing to such occult powers.

"Well," said the false Saint-Esteve, going into the sufferer's room with
an abject air, "Monsieur le Baron has met with some difficulties? What
can you expect! Everybody is open to attack on his weak side. Dear me,
I have had my troubles too. Within two months the wheel of Fortune has
turned upside down for me. Here I am looking out for a place!--We have
neither of us been very wise. If Monsieur le Baron would take me as cook
to Madame Esther, I would be the most devoted of slaves. I should be
useful to you, monsieur, to keep an eye on Eugenie and madame."

"Dere is no hope of dat," said the Baron. "I cannot succeet in being de
master, I am let such a tance as----"

"As a top," Asie put in. "Well, you have made others dance, daddy, and
the little slut has got you, and is making a fool of you.--Heaven is
just!"

"Just?" said the Baron. "I hafe not sent for you to preach to me----"

"Pooh, my boy! A little moralizing breaks no bones. It is the salt of
life to the like of us, as vice is to your bigots.--Come, have you been
generous? You have paid her debts?"

"Ja," said the Baron lamentably.

"That is well; and you have taken her things out of pawn, and that is
better. But you must see that it is not enough. All this gives her no
occupation, and these creatures love to cut a dash----"

"I shall hafe a surprise for her, Rue Saint-Georches--she knows dat,"
said the Baron. "But I shall not be made a fool of."

"Very well then, let her go."

"I am o