stood with her husband, she perhaps thought it no
such bad policy to secure him, by a little civility, in her interest.
She little imagined, perhaps, engrossed as she was with other images, to
what aspiring hopes she was thus unconsciously introducing the Sieur de
Blassemare. That gentleman was proud of his _bonnes fortunes_; and the
rapid chemistry of his vanity instantaneously transmuted the lightest
show of good-humor, in a handsome woman, into the faint but
irrepressible evidences of a warmer sentiment of preference.

Perfectly convinced of the reality of the _penchant_ he believed himself
to have inspired, you may be sure the lively scoundrel was not a little
flattered at his imaginary conquest. He debated, therefore, in his
self-complacent reveries, whether he should take prompt advantage of the
weakness of his victim, or pique her by the malice of suspense. He chose
the latter tactique, and, with a happy self-esteem, reserved the
transports of his confession to reward the longings and agitations of a
protracted probationary ordeal.

Thus Blassemare was in his glory, superintending the preparations for a
_fete_, which left him nothing in prodigality and magnificence to
desire; enjoying, at the same time, the delightful consciousness of
having placed, without an effort, the prettiest woman in France at his
feet, and the _piquant_ sense, beside, of his little treason against old
Le Prun.

Thus matters proceeded; but, strange to say, while the evening for which
all these preparations were being made was still more than a week
distant, Madame Le Prun, whose impatience of even that brief delay had
been unspeakable, on a sudden lost all her interest in the affair. Such,
alas! is the volatility, the caprice, of women. The object for sake of
which she had led poor Le Prun a dog's life for so long, was now
presented to her, and she turned from it with indifference, if not with
disgust. This would, indeed, have been very provoking to Le Prun
himself, had he been just then upon speaking terms with his wife; but
not happening to be so, and being in no mood to talk about her further
to his gay familiar, Blassemare, he was wholly ignorant of those
feminine fluctuations of interest and of liking which Blassemare himself
did not fully comprehend. The change was so abrupt as to excite his
surprise. Her apathy, too, was unaccompanied by ill-temper, and was
obviously so genuine, that he could hardly believe it affected merely to