h the most
religious of painters has given to Moses before the burning bush on
Horeb, to depict his deep and complete adoration of Jehovah. After
saying her prayers, Esther had renounced her better life, the honor she
had created for herself, her glory, her virtue, and her love.

She rose.

"Oh, madame, you will never look like that again!" cried Prudence
Servien, struck by her mistress' sublime beauty.

She hastily turned the long mirror so that the poor girl should see
herself. Her eyes still had a light as of the soul flying heavenward.
The Jewess' complexion was brilliant. Sparkling with tears unshed in the
fervor of prayer, her eyelashes were like leaves after a summer shower,
for the last time they shone with the sunshine of pure love. Her lips
seemed to preserve an expression as of her last appeal to the angels,
whose palm of martyrdom she had no doubt borrowed while placing in their
hands her past unspotted life. And she had the majesty which Mary Stuart
must have shown at the moment when she bid adieu to her crown, to earth,
and to love.

"I wish Lucien could have seen me thus!" she said with a smothered sigh.
"Now," she added, in a strident tone, "now for a fling!"

Europe stood dumb at hearing the words, as though she had heard an angel
blaspheme.

"Well, why need you stare at me to see if I have cloves in my mouth
instead of teeth? I am nothing henceforth but a vile, foul creature, a
thief--and I expect milord. So get me a hot bath, and put my dress out.
It is twelve o'clock; the Baron will look in, no doubt, when the Bourse
closes; I shall tell him I was waiting for him, and Asie is to prepare
us dinner, first-chop, mind you; I mean to turn the man's brain.--Come,
hurry, hurry, my girl; we are going to have some fun--that is to say, we
must go to work."

She sat down at the table and wrote the following note:--

"MY FRIEND,--If the cook you have sent me had not already been in
my service, I might have thought that your purpose was to let me
know how often you had fainted yesterday on receiving my three
notes. (What can I say? I was very nervous that day; I was
thinking over the memories of my miserable existence.) But I know
how sincere Asie is. Still, I cannot repent of having caused you
so much pain, since it has availed to prove to me how much you
love me. This is how we are made, we luckless and despised
creatures; true affection touches us far more deeply than finding
our