ws of such freaks
of chance, such complications of whimsical entanglements, that it
constantly outdoes the most inventive imagination. The audacity
of facts, by sheer improbability or indecorum, rises to heights of
"situation" forbidden to art, unless they are softened, cleansed, and
purified by the writer.

Madame Camusot did her utmost to dress herself for the morning almost in
good taste--a difficult task for the wife of a judge who for six years
has lived in a provincial town. Her object was to give no hold for
criticism to the Marquise d'Espard or the Duchesse de Maufrigneuse, in
a call so early as between eight and nine in the morning. Amelie Cecile
Camusot, nee Thirion, it must be said, only half succeeded; and in a
matter of dress is this not a twofold blunder?

Few people can imagine how useful the women of Paris are to ambitious
men of every class; they are equally necessary in the world of fashion
and the world of thieves, where, as we have seen, they fill a most
important part. For instance, suppose that a man, not to find himself
left in the lurch, must absolutely get speech within a given time
with the high functionary who was of such immense importance under the
Restoration, and who is to this day called the Keeper of the Seals--a
man, let us say, in the most favorable position, a judge, that is to
say, a man familiar with the way of things. He is compelled to seek out
the presiding judge of a circuit, or some private or official secretary,
and prove to him his need of an immediate interview. But is a Keeper of
the Seals ever visible "that very minute"? In the middle of the day, if
he is not at the Chamber, he is at the Privy Council, or signing papers,
or hearing a case. In the early morning he is out, no one knows
where. In the evening he has public and private engagements. If every
magistrate could claim a moment's interview under any pretext that might
occur to him, the Supreme Judge would be besieged.

The purpose of a private and immediate interview is therefore submitted
to the judgment of one of those mediatory potentates who are but an
obstacle to be removed, a door that can be unlocked, so long as it is
not held by a rival. A woman at once goes to another woman; she can get
straight into her bedroom if she can arouse the curiosity of mistress
or maid, especially if the mistress is under the stress of a strong
interest or pressing necessity.

Call this female potentate Madame la Marquise d'Es