, and so I went in, though somewhat nervously.

"Oh! My friend, what an hour I spent then! Paradise! and it would be
useless, impossible to describe it to you! Apartments fit for a
princess, and one of those princesses out of fairy tales, a fairy
herself. An exquisite German woman, exquisite as German women can be,
when they try. An Undine of Heinrich Heine's, with hair like the Virgin
Mary's, innocent blue eyes, and a skin like strawberries and cream.

"Suddenly, however, my Undine got up, and her face convulsed with fury
and pride. Then, she rushed behind some hangings, where she began to
give vent to a flood of German words, which I did not understand, while
I remained standing, dumbfounded. But just then, the old woman came in,
and said, shaking with fear: 'Quick, quick; dress yourself and go, if
you do not wish to be killed.'

"I asked no questions, for what was the good of trying to understand?
Besides, the old woman, who grew more and more terrified, could not find
any French words, and chattered wildly. I jumped up and got into my
shoes and overcoat and ran down the stairs, and in the street.

"Ten minutes later, I recovered my breath and my senses, without knowing
what streets I had been through, nor where I had come from, and I stole
furtively into my hotel, as if I had been a malefactor.

"In the _cafes_ the next morning, nothing was talked of except a crime
that had been committed during the night. A German baron had killed his
wife with a revolver, but he had been liberated on bail, as he had
appealed to his counsel, to whom he had given the following explanation,
to the truth of which the lady companion of the baroness had certified.

"She had been married to her husband almost by force, and detested him,
and she had some particular reasons (which were not specified) for her
hatred of him. In order to have her revenge on him, she had had him
seized, bound and gagged by four hired ruffians, who had been caught,
and who had confessed everything. Thus, reduced to immobility, and
unable to help himself, the baron had been obliged to witness a
degrading scene, where his wife caressed a Frenchman, and thus outraged
conjugal fidelity and German honor at the same time. As soon as he was
set at liberty, the baron had punished his faithless wife, and was now
seeking her accomplice."

"And what did you do?" someone asked Pierre Dufaille.

"The only thing I could do, by George!" he replied. "I put myself at the