out the smoke in large volumes through his
lips. But money must be spent! Yes;--money must be had! Cohenlupe
certainly had money. Though he squeezed it out of the coward's veins
he would have it. At any rate, he would not despair. There was a fight
to be fought yet, and he would fight it to the end. Then he took a
deep drink, and slowly, with careful and almost solemn steps, he made
his way up to his bed.

CHAPTER LXV - MISS LONGESTAFFE WRITES HOME

Lady Monogram, when she left Madame Melmotte's house after that
entertainment of Imperial Majesty which had been to her of so very
little avail, was not in a good humour. Sir Damask, who had himself
affected to laugh at the whole thing, but who had been in truth as
anxious as his wife to see the Emperor in private society, put her
ladyship and Miss Longestaffe into the carriage without a word, and
rushed off to his club in disgust. The affair from beginning to end,
including the final failure, had been his wife's doing. He had been
made to work like a slave, and had been taken against his will to
Melmotte's house, and had seen no Emperor and shaken hands with no
Prince! 'They may fight it out between them now like the Kilkenny
cats.' That was his idea as he closed the carriage-door on the two
ladies,--thinking that if a larger remnant were left of one cat than
of the other that larger remnant would belong to his wife.

'What a horrid affair!' said Lady Monogram. 'Did anybody ever see
anything so vulgar?' This was at any rate unreasonable, for whatever
vulgarity there may have been, Lady Monogram had seen none of it.

'I don't know why you were so late,' said Georgiana.

'Late! Why it's not yet twelve. I don't suppose it was eleven when we
got into the Square. Anywhere else it would have been early.'

'You knew they did not mean to stay long. It was particularly said so.
I really think it was your own fault.'

'My own fault. Yes;--I don't doubt that. I know it was my own fault,
my dear, to have had anything to do with it. And now I have got to
pay for it.'

'What do you mean by paying for it, Julia?'

'You know what I mean very well. Is your friend going to do us the
honour of coming to us to-morrow night?' She could not have declared in
plainer language how very high she thought the price to be which she
had consented to give for those ineffective tickets.

'If you mean Mr Brehgert, he is coming. You desired me to ask him, and
I did so.'

'Desired you!