ed to have some designs
on me, but without compromising her dignity; for she was scrupulous and
respected the proprieties. One day while I was waiting for the countess
in her Opera box, I heard my name called from a contiguous box. It was
Madame de T-----.

"What," she said, "already here? Is this fidelity or merely a want of
something to do? Won't you come to me?"

Her voice and her manner had a meaning in them, but I was far from
inclined at that moment to indulge in a romance.

"Have you any plans for this evening?" she said to me. "Don't make any!
If I cheer your tedious solitude you ought to be devoted to me. Don't
ask any questions, but obey. Call my servants."

I answered with a bow and on being requested to leave the Opera box, I
obeyed.

"Go to this gentleman's house," she said to the lackey. "Say he will not
be home till to-morrow."

She made a sign to him, he went to her, she whispered in his ear, and
he left us. The Opera began. I tried to venture on a few words, but
she silenced me; some one might be listening. The first act ended, the
lackey brought back a note, and told her that everything was ready. Then
she smiled, asked for my hand, took me off, put me in her carriage, and
I started on my journey quite ignorant of my destination. Every inquiry
I made was answered by a peal of laughter. If I had not been aware that
this was a woman of great passion, that she had long loved the Marquis
de V-----, that she must have known I was aware of it, I should have
believed myself in good luck; but she knew the condition of my heart,
and the Comtesse de -----. I therefore rejected all presumptuous ideas
and bided my time. At the first stop, a change of horses was supplied
with the swiftness of lightning and we started afresh. The matter was
becoming serious. I asked with some insistency, where this joke was to
end.

"Where?" she said, laughing. "In the pleasantest place in the world, but
can't you guess? I'll give you a thousand chances. Give it up, for you
will never guess. We are going to my husband's house. Do you know him?"

"Not in the least."

"So much the better, I thought you didn't. But I hope you will like him.
We have lately become reconciled. Negotiations went on for six months;
and we have been writing to one another for a month. I think it is very
kind of me to go and look him up."

"It certainly is, but what am I going to do there? What good will I be
in this reconciliation?"

"Ah, that