ld be useful to me in Paris, and Mr. Astley will pay his debts here."

In this manner did I depart for the Gay City.

XVI

Of Paris what am I to say? The whole proceeding was a delirium, a
madness. I spent a little over three weeks there, and, during that
time, saw my hundred thousand francs come to an end. I speak only of
the ONE hundred thousand francs, for the other hundred thousand I gave
to Mlle. Blanche in pure cash. That is to say, I handed her fifty
thousand francs at Frankfurt, and, three days later (in Paris),
advanced her another fifty thousand on note of hand. Nevertheless, a
week had not elapsed ere she came to me for more money. "Et les cent
mille francs qui nous restent," she added, "tu les mangeras avec moi,
mon utchitel." Yes, she always called me her "utchitel." A person more
economical, grasping, and mean than Mlle. Blanche one could not
imagine. But this was only as regards HER OWN money. MY hundred
thousand francs (as she explained to me later) she needed to set up her
establishment in Paris, "so that once and for all I may be on a decent
footing, and proof against any stones which may be thrown at me--at all
events for a long time to come." Nevertheless, I saw nothing of those
hundred thousand francs, for my own purse (which she inspected daily)
never managed to amass in it more than a hundred francs at a time; and,
generally the sum did not reach even that figure.

"What do you want with money?" she would say to me with air of absolute
simplicity; and I never disputed the point. Nevertheless, though she
fitted out her flat very badly with the money, the fact did not prevent
her from saying when, later, she was showing me over the rooms of her
new abode: "See what care and taste can do with the most wretched of
means!" However, her "wretchedness" had cost fifty thousand francs,
while with the remaining fifty thousand she purchased a carriage and
horses.

Also, we gave a couple of balls--evening parties attended by Hortense
and Lisette and Cleopatre, who were women remarkable both for the
number of their liaisons and (though only in some cases) for their good
looks. At these reunions I had to play the part of host--to meet and
entertain fat mercantile parvenus who were impossible by reason of
their rudeness and braggadocio, colonels of various kinds, hungry
authors, and journalistic hacks--all of whom disported themselves in
fashionable tailcoats and pale yellow gloves, and displayed such