54
THE SLAVES OF PARIS.
amused, when all at once I heard a dispute in
the vestibule. I rang to ascertain what it meant,
when suddenly the door opened, and in came
Van Klopen with a very red face."
"Van Klopen?"
" Yes, don't you know? Van Klopen, the
man that makes dresses. I said to myself ' He
has come here in this way because he has just
invented semething especially chic, and wishes
to submit it to me.' But do you know what the
rascal wanted ?"
Monsieur de Breulh did not laugh, but there
was a twinkle in his eye.
" Possibly it was money."
The vicomtesse looked astounded at this brill-
iancy.
" You are right," she answered, gravely.
"He brought my bill himself into my salon,
and presented it to me before a stranger. He
had forced his way in spite of the opposition
of my servants. Never would I have supposed
that Van Klopen, who is employed by the very
best people, could have been guilty of such a
piece of impudence."
"It is most extraordinary," answered her
-cousin, indignantly. "I ordered him to leave
the room. I took it for granted that he would
obey and apologize. But I was greatly mis-
taken. The fellow got angry, threatened me,
and declared if I did not pay him at once that
he would go to my husband."
Monsieur de Bois d'Ardon is the most gen-
erous of men; he gives his wife a monthly
sum for her toilette, which ought to cover all
her expenses. He allows no debts, as Monsieur
de Breulh well knew.
" Was the bill a heavy one?"
" He had brought it up to nineteen thousand,
and as many hundred francs. Imagine my
borror when I saw it. It was so enormous that
I humbly entreated Van Klopen to be patient,
and promised him to call during Ihe day and
pay him a certain sum on account. But my
evident terror increased his audacity, and he
seated himself in an arm-chair and declared
that there he would remain until I gave him the
money or he had seen my husband."
Monsieur de Breulh by this time was in a
furious rage.
" What did Croisenois do all this time?" he
cried.
" Nothing, at first, but at this last insolence
he rose, drew out a pocket-book and threw it
m Van Klopen's face, saying, at the same time:
" Pay yourself, villain, and be off with you!"
" And then he went away-----"
"No, indeed. 'I must give you a receipt,'
he said, turning to the marquis; and he pulled
writing materials out of his pocket, and put at
the bottom of the bill:
' ' Received from Monsieur de Croisenois
on account of Madame la Vicomtesse de Bois
d'Ardon, the sum of, etc., etc' "
"Oh!" said Monsieur de Breulh—and then
came two more oh's, each in a different tone
" I suppose after the departure of Van Klopen,
that Monsieur de Croisenois no longer hesitated
to ask that favor for which he had come?"
The vicomtesse shook her head.
" No, you are mistaken. I had the greatest dif-
ficulty in making him speak; but at last he ac-
knowledged that he was desperately in love with
Mademoiselle de Mussidan; and he begged me
to present him to her father, and use all my
influence in his behalf."
Andre and Monsieur de Breulh started as if
stung by the same lash.
" It is he!" they exclaimed.
Their movements were so abrupt and threaten-
ing that the lady uttered a little cry of surprise.
" It is he!" she repeated, looking from one to
the other.    "What on earth do you mean?"
"That your Marquis de Croisenois is a wretch
who has imposed on Madame d'Arlange."
"Very possibly; but-----"
"Listen, Clotilde; listen to our reasons."
And immediately her cousin, with extreme
vivacity, laid before the vicomtesse the entire
situation ; showed her poor Sabine's letter, and
repeated almost word for word Andre's deduc-
tions.
Clotilde must have been deeply interested
for she never once interrupted him.    She gave
an occasional nod of the head, but that was all
When De Breulh had finished, she, with a wise
little air that was very bewitching, said :
" Your reasoning is all good, except that you
start wrong. Let me have the floor now. You
say there is a mysterious suitor. If he obtains
Sabine's hand how will he have done it?
Through some mysterious power he exercises
over the count and the countess—to threats, in
short."
" Of course; that is clear to any one."
"To be sure; but, my dear Goutran, it is
clear that the unknown must have some sort of
relations with the family he threatens—utter
strangers could not exercise this power, you
know. Now, Monsieur de Croisenois has never
put his foot in the Hotel de Mussidan—he
knows Octave so little that he came to ask me
to present him."
So specious and peremptory was this obser-
vation that De Breulh was silent.
" You are right," he said, under his breath.
But Andre was not easily diverted from the
scent.
"I admit," he said, "that this seems at the
first glance to destroy our theory. But I sus-
pect that all is not as it seems, and the more I
reflect on the extraordinary scene described by
the vicomtesse the more confirmed are my sus-
picions. Allow me to ask a few questions.
Did not this Van Klopen's proceedings strike
you as very odd?"
"Monstrous, sir—revolting! unheard of !"
" Are you not one of his best customers?"
"Yes;   and I have spent a fortune in his
establishment."
Andre looked pleased.
"But," interrupted De Breulh, "itis not so
very strange after all in Van Klopen. Did he
not bring an action against Madame de Rever-
say?"                  ,
" That may be; but we have yet to learn,"
said Andre, "that he pushed his way into her
salon and presented his bill before a stranger,
and then seated himself."
"And we have yet to learn," urged the vi-
comtesse that she paid him seventeen thousand
francs on account last month."
"Do you know Monsieur de Croisenois?"
asked Andre, turning to Monsieur de Breulh.
"Oh ! very little.    He belongs to an excellent
family I know, and also that his elder brother
George was highly esteemed by all who knew
him."
"Is he rich?"
"I fancy not; but some day he will come in
possession of a large fortune. In the meantime
he probably has more debts than income. "
"And yet he happened to have twenty thou-
sand francs in his pocket. That is rather a
large sum for a man to carry about him when
he pays a morning visit; and then, too, it is
rather odd that it should have happened to be
precisely the necessary sum. "
Andre was stunned. He spoke in a quick
imperative tone and manner.
"Then, too, there is another strange thing
Madame has said that Van Klopen received the
pocket-book full in  his  face     Did   he   sav
nothing?"
"Not a word."
"He accepted the insult without a wink? He
did not even ask this stranger why he meddled
in the matter?"
" I did not think of it at the time, but it was
very odd-----"
"One moment, if you please. Did Van
Klopen open the pocket-book and count the
notes before he wrote the receipt?"
Madame de Bois d'Ardon frowned, and
seemed to make an urgent appeal to her mem-
ory.
"I am not certain," she said, hesitatingly.
" You know that I was naturally much dis-
turbed and troubled; but I feel almost sure
that I never saw the notes in Van Klopen's
hands."
Andre's face was radiant.
"Better and better!" he exclaimed. "He
was told to pay himself, but he did not look to
see how much was in the pocket-book. He
pocketed it, and gave a receipt. Let us take
notice, too, of the fact that Monsieur de Croise-
nois had neither card nor letter in this pocket-
book. Nothing, in fact, but the sum of twenty
thousand francs, which sum was precisely what
was needed."
"It does not seem altogether natural " mur-
mured De Breulh.
"No; Ihave made a mistake," said Andre,
hastily. " Your bill was not twenty thousand
francs precisely."
"No," answered, the lady. "Van Klopen
should have given back a hundred and thirty
or a hundred and fifty francs—something like
that. "
"And he did not?"
" No; but then he was so much excited."
"Do you think so, madame? And yet he was
able to remember that he had writing materials
in his pocket, and remembered to give a re-
ceipt."
The vicomtesse was dumbfounded. It
seemed to her that a thick fog had been before
her eyes, and was now clearing away.
"Then," continued Andre, "Van Klopen
wrote the receipt, but how did he know De
Croisenois's name? How did he know this
stranger unless he had seen him before? And
now, one more question: What has become of
this receipted—:—"
He suddenly stopped. Madame de Bois
d'Ardon had turned very pale, and was trem-
bling violently.
"Ah!" she said, " I felt all the time that some
terrible misfortune was about to overtake me.
It was on this very point that I wanted to speak
to you, Goutran, and ask your advice."
"Go on, Clotilde."
"Well, you see, I have not  got   this bill.
Monsieur de Croisenois crushed it in his hand
and threw it down on the table; but afterward
he picked it up mechanically, and put it in his
pocket."
Andre was triumphant.
"The game is clear," he said.    Monsieur de
Croisenois needed your influence, madame; he
saw that he could not buy it. Admit, however,
that you would have felt obliged to do what he
asked, on account of these twenty thousand
francs so generously lent to you by him in an
hour of great necessity."
"Yes, you are right!"
Many times in her life the amiable vicomtesse
had risked her name, her reputation, her hap-
piness and her husband's, for some mere ca-
price—or through indolence. She had had
more than one terrible fright, but never one as
terrible as this.
"Good heavens!" she cried, "why do you
alarm me in this way? It-is not generous.
What do you suppose Monsieur de Croisenois
could possibly do with this receipt?"
What could he do with it? She knew only
too well, and yet through a weakness, which is
as inconceivable as it is common, she refused,
so to speak, to recognize the danger, or even to
admit that there was any.
" He will do nothing," interruoted her cousin,
"nothing, if you embrace his"cause warmly;
but hesitate for a moment, and he will quickly
show you that you have no choice in the mat-
ter: that you must be his ally, as he holds your
honor in his hands."
"And, unfortunately," added Andre, "a
woman's reputation has always been, and
always will be, at the mercy of a fool or a
knave!"
The vicomtesse again cried out at this.
"No! no!" she said, in the tone of a child
who has just been frightened bv its nurse with
a frightful hobgoblin tale. " You are alarmed
at a shadow."
"And why?" answered her cousin, sadly.
"You are by no means ignorant of the fact that
in these days of luxurious and extravagant
toilettes, there are women of fashion thoroughly
corrupt in their hearts and their lives, who ruin
their lovers quite as adroitly as a class of whom
I do not care to speak. To-morrow, at the
club, De Croisenois may say: ' That little Bois.
d'Ardon costs me an ocean of money!' Then
he shows your bill of twenty thousand francs,
receipted to him. What will be the conclusion,
then?"
" People will do me the honor to believe-----"
" No, people will do you no honor whatever,
Clotilde. Who the deuce would believe it to be
a loan? They will simply say: 'That little
vicomtesse is a terrible coquette. The money
her husband gives her is not enough, and she is
devouring poor Croisenois.' And everv man in
the club will laugh knowingly. Yo"u know
that. And you know of just such things every
day of your life. And a little later, the story
will reach your husband's ears, enlivened and
embellished."
The poor vicomtesse wrung her hand in de-
spair.
"It is terrible!" she sobbed. "And do you
know, that Bois d'Ardon would believe the
worst. He declares that a woman like myself,
who sets the fashion in the matter of toilettes,
is capable of anything to preserve the pre-
eminence which is the despair of the othet
women.    Yes, he has often said just that."
The silence of the two men told Clotilde that
they agreed with her husband.
" This mania for dress has been my destruc-
tion," she added.    "I ought to be the happiest
j of women, and should be but for that.    Never!
no, never will I have another bill anywhere!"
i