ou
permit me to call him Bel-Ami?"

"Certainly, my dear; I will permit anything you wish."

A shade of irony lurked beneath those words, uttered so pleasantly.

Mme. Walter mentioned a fencing-match to be given at Jacques Rival's
apartments, the proceeds to be devoted to charities, and in which many
society ladies were going to assist. She said: "It will be very
entertaining; but I am in despair, for we have no one to escort us, my
husband having an engagement."

Du Roy offered his services at once. She accepted, saying: "My
daughters and I shall be very grateful."

He glanced at the younger of the two girls and thought: "Little Suzanne
is not at all bad, not at all."

She resembled a doll, being very small and dainty, with a
well-proportioned form, a pretty, delicate face, blue-gray eyes, a fair
skin, and curly, flaxen hair. Her elder sister, Rose, was plain--one of
those girls to whom no attention is ever paid. Her mother rose, and
turning to Georges, said: "I shall count on you next Thursday at two
o'clock."

He replied: "Count upon me, Madame."

When the door closed upon Mme. Walter, Mme. de Marelle, in her turn,
rose.

"Au revoir, Bel-Ami."

This time she pressed his hand and he was moved by that silent avowal.
"I will go to see her to-morrow," thought he.

Left alone with his wife, she laughed, and looking into his eyes said:
"Mme. Walter has taken a fancy to you!"

He replied incredulously: "Nonsense!"

"But I know it. She spoke of you to me with great enthusiasm. She said
she would like to find two husbands like you for her daughters.
Fortunately she is not susceptible herself."

He did not understand her and repeated: "Susceptible herself?"

She replied in a tone of conviction: "Oh, Mme. Walter is
irreproachable. Her husband you know as well as I. But she is
different. Still she has suffered a great deal in having married a Jew,
though she has been true to him; she is a virtuous woman."

Du Roy was surprised: "I thought her a Jewess."

"She a Jewess! No, indeed! She is the prime mover in all the charitable
movements at the Madeleine. She was even married by a priest. I am not
sure but that M. Walter went through the form of baptism."

Georges murmured: "And--she--likes--me--"

"Yes. If you were not married I should advise you to ask for the hand
of--Suzanne--would you not prefer her to Rose?"

He replied as he twisted his mustache: "Eh! the mother is not so bad!"

Madeleine replied: