e doesn't pay, shall I leave the
ring? My employer told me, 'Consult some prominent tradesman of the
neighborhood, and follow his advice.'"

Prominent tradesman! Delicately tickled vanity was dancing in the
grocer's eyes.

"What is the name of the lady?" he inquired.

"Mme. Zelie Cadelle."

The grocer burst out laughing.

"In that case, my boy," he said, tapping familiarly the shoulder
of the so-called clerk, "whether she pays or not, you can deliver
the article."

The familiarity was not, perhaps, very much to the taste of the
Marquis de Tregars. No matter.

"She is rich, then, that lady?" he said.

"Personally no. But she is protected by an old fool, who allows
her all her fancies."

"Indeed!"

"It is scandalous; and you cannot form an idea of the amount of
money that is spent in that house. Horses, carriages, servants,
dresses, balls, dinners, card-playing all night, a perpetual
carnival: it must be ruinous!"

M. de Tregars never winced.

"And the old man who pays?" he asked; "do you know him?"

"I have seen him pass,--a tall, lean, old fellow, who doesn't look
very rich, either. But excuse me: here is a customer I must wait
upon."

Having walked out into the street,

"We must separate now," declared M. de Tregars to Maxence.

"What! You wish to--"

"Go and wait for me in that cafe yonder, at the corner of the street.
I must see that Zelie Cadelle and speak to her."

And without suffering an objection on the part of Maxence, he walked
resolutely up to the cottage-gate, and rang vigorously.

At the sound of the bell, one of those servants stepped out into the
yard, who seem manufactured on purpose, heaven knows where, for the
special service of young ladies who keep house,--a tall rascal with
sallow complexion and straight hair, a cynical eye, and a low,
impudent smile.

"What do you wish, sir?" he inquired through the grating.

"That you should open the door, first," uttered M. de Tregars, with
such a look and such an accent, that the other obeyed at once.

"And now," he added, "go and announce me to Mme. Zelie Cadelle."

"Madame is out," replied the valet.

And noticing that M. de Tregars shrugged his shoulders,

"Upon my word," he said, "she has gone to the bois with one of her
friends. If you won't believe me, ask my comrades there."

And he pointed out two other servants of the same pattern as himself,
who were silting at a table in the carriage-house, playing cards,
a