214

CHAPTER XVII.
A STRANGE BETROTHAL 242

CHAPTER XVIII.
AN AUCTION 292

CHAPTER XIX.
A BITTER-SWEET REUNION 315

CHAPTER XX.
"WAIT TILL YOU COME TO FORTY YEAR" 323

ILLUSTRATIONS

FACING
PAGE

"AH! THANKS! YOU ARE GOING TO SAVE ME!"
(See page 107) _Frontispiece_

"CAN I LIVE WITHOUT YOU?" 58

WHEN A WOMAN SUDDENLY CAME IN 315

SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION

[_CONTINUED_]

CHAPTER XI.

A DINNER AND A DUEL.

Frederick passed the whole of the next day in brooding over his anger
and humiliation. He reproached himself for not having given a slap in
the face to Cisy. As for the Marechale, he swore not to see her again.
Others as good-looking could be easily found; and, as money would be
required in order to possess these women, he would speculate on the
Bourse with the purchase-money of his farm. He would get rich; he would
crush the Marechale and everyone else with his luxury. When the evening
had come, he was surprised at not having thought of Madame Arnoux.

"So much the better. What's the good of it?"

Two days after, at eight o'clock, Pellerin came to pay him a visit. He
began by expressing his admiration of the furniture and talking in a
wheedling tone. Then, abruptly:

"You were at the races on Sunday?"

"Yes, alas!"

Thereupon the painter decried the anatomy of English horses, and praised
the horses of Gericourt and the horses of the Parthenon.

"Rosanette was with you?"

And he artfully proceeded to speak in flattering terms about her.

Frederick's freezing manner put him a little out of countenance.

He did not know how to bring about the question of her portrait. His
first idea had been to do a portrait in the style of Titian. But
gradually the varied colouring of his model had bewitched him; he had
gone on boldly with the work, heaping up paste on paste and light on
light. Rosanette, in the beginning, was enchanted. Her appointments with
Delmar had interrupted the sittings, and left Pellerin all the time to
get bedazzled. Then, as his admiration began to subside, he asked
himself whether the picture might not be on a larger