her satin gown; her eyes to rival the blaze of her
diamonds; and her skin to cope with the soft whiteness of the marabouts
which tied in her hair, set off the ebon tresses and the ringlets
dangling from her headdress. Her tender voice would stir the chords of
the most insensible hearts; in a word, so powerfully did she wake up
love in the human breast that Robert d'Abrissel himself would perhaps
have yielded to her.

The baron glanced at his wife, who, overcome with fatigue, had sunk to
sleep in a corner of the carriage. He compared, in spite of himself, the
toilette of Louise and that of Emilie. Now on occasions of this kind the
presence of a wife is singularly calculated to sharpen the unquenchable
desires of a forbidden love. Moreover, the glances of the baron,
directed alternately to his wife and to her friend, were easy to
interpret, and Madame B----- interpreted them.

"Poor Louise," she said, "she is overtired. Going out does not suit her,
her tastes are so simple. At Ecouen she was always reading--"

"And you, what used you to do?"

"I, sir? Oh, I thought about nothing but acting comely. It was my
passion!"

"But why do you so rarely visit Madame de V-----? We have a country
house at Saint-Prix, where we could have a comedy acted, in a little
theatre which I have built there."

"If I have not visited Madame de V-----, whose fault is it?" she
replied. "You are so jealous that you will not allow her either to visit
her friends or to receive them."

"I jealous!" cried Monsieur de V-----, "after four years of marriage,
and after having had three children!"

"Hush," said Emilie, striking the fingers of the baron with her fan,
"Louise is not asleep!"

The carriage stopped, and the baron offered his hand to his wife's fair
friend and helped her to get out.

"I hope," said Madame B-----, "that you will not prevent Louise from
coming to the ball which I am giving this week."

The baron made her a respectful bow.

This ball was a triumph of Madame B-----'s and the ruin of the husband
of Louise; for he became desperately enamored of Emilie, to whom he
would have sacrificed a hundred lawful wives.

Some months after that evening on which the baron gained some hopes of
succeeding with his wife's friend, he found himself one morning at the
house of Madame B-----, when the maid came to announce the Baroness de
V-----.

"Ah!" cried Emilie, "if Louise were to see you with me at such an hour
as this, she would