The viscount's friends entered his salon in riding costume, hunting crop in hand.

The first was a tall youth of nearly six feet, and so slender and frail that he seemed in danger of breaking in two when he stooped; especially as he was always dressed in the latest style, and squeezed and pinched himself so that not the slightest crease could be detected in his clothes. Many ladies envied that young man his figure. His name was Florville, and his face was not unattractive.

The second was a young man of medium stature, whose hair was bright red, as were the rims of his eyes; which did not prevent him from esteeming himself a very good-looking fellow; he dared not turn his head, for fear of rumpling his collar or disarranging the knot of his cravat. He was an habituÉ of the ThÉÀtre-Italien; he never missed a performance, insisted on posing as a great connoisseur in music, and declared that he could easily have reached high C, if his voice had been cultivated; but it had not been. This individual, so laughable by reason of his manners and his pretensions, was Monsieur Lamberlong.

The third of the viscount's visitors was a man of about thirty, remarkable neither for beauty nor ugliness, rather stout than thin, with a good-humored, smiling face, and all the manners of a high liver. His name was Dumarsey.

Florville and Dumarsey had enormous cigars in their mouths. The young man with the red hair did not smoke; by way of compensation, he had a little square glass over his right eye, and kept it in place almost all the time; his kind friends declared that he ought to wear one on the left eye as well, in order to conceal both his albino-like lids.

"Here we are! here we are, Edward!—The deuce! he's not ready!"

"I was sure he wouldn't be; I'd have bet on it."

"Well! what's your hurry, messieurs? In the first place, it's too early to go to the Bois. We have time enough. I will finish dressing.—LÉpinette, give me a cigarette."

"Here is one, monsieur."

"Will you allow me to complete my toilet in your presence?"

"Go on, go on, take all the time you want!" said Dumarsey; "I have a good londres; that's enough for me."

"For my part," said Florville, "I am not satisfied with this so-called Havana."

"If you would like a cigar, Monsieur Lamberlong, you'll find a box on the console yonder. I smoke nothing but cigarettes myself, but I always keep a few cigars for my friends."

"Exceedingly obliged, dear viscount; but I don't care about smoking; there was a man at the Bouffes last night who smelt very strongly of tobacco; it made a number of ladies ill."

"As there is no performance at the Bouffes to-night, you have nothing to fear."

"Oh! but I am going to a concert to-night, at which Alboni is to sing."

"You stick to music, don't you?"

"It's my element."

"You know, Edward," laughed Dumarsey, "Lamberlong would have been able to reach high C, if his natural faculties had been cultivated. What a pity to have neglected them!"

"Is there any chance of catching the lost note, if we should take an express train?"

"You are pleased to jest, messieurs. None the less, it is true that a gentleman in the balcony at the Bouffes said to me not long ago: 'This is where you ought to be!'"

"In the balcony?"

"No; but at the Bouffes, with a salary of sixty thousand francs!"

"Had he heard your high C?"

"Yes; just as I left school."

"It can't be denied that there are some very fortunate mortals. There was a man who had heard Lamberlong's high C! And we poor devils might pay fabulous prices, yes, hire the whole auditorium of the Bouffes, and not hear it! It's heartrending!"

The red-haired young man rose impatiently, and began to inspect the pictures that adorned the salon.

"What do you hear that's new, messieurs?" said Edward, tying his cravat.

"Oh! nothing piquant or interesting. There's been a great scarcity lately of scandalous intrigues in which we know the leading parties."

"Who is the woman most in vogue? Remember that I am just from Italy, messieurs, and that I am not at all posted as to what is going on in Paris."

"There are five or six in high favor; but you must have seen them, for you were at Saint-Phar the banker's great crush night before last."

"I saw nothing wonderful. If that's all you have to offer me, why——"

"There was a dazzling blonde at the Bouffes last night. She attracted every eye."

"Well! of course, you made inquiries about her, Lamberlong?"

"Yes; she's the wife of a rich Spaniard, who is taking her to Brazil."

"If he's taking her to Brazil, that's too far to follow her. But you must have had some romantic adventures in Italy, viscount? The women there are very revengeful, they say."

"No more so than in France! I saw two or three little stilettos glisten in the girdle or the garter, but I didn't feel the point of one."

"No great passions, then?"

"Nothing, nothing! it's maddening! Love is vanishing, messieurs."

"That isn't what says a young man who is always in the orchestra chairs at the Bouffes; he's in a fair way of dying of love for an actress; he won't say who she is."

"Oh! but one must be an habituÉ of the Bouffes to do that sort of thing!—A cigarette, LÉpinette."

"Here is one, monsieur."

"How many do you smoke a day, Edward?"

"I don't know; I never counted them."

"I'll bet that it's two dozen!"

"I'll bet it's three!"

"Pardieu! all you have to do is to ask my valet; he can give you more accurate information than anyone else on that subject."

"LÉpinette, how many cigarettes does your master smoke in a day—about?"

LÉpinette reflected a moment, then replied:

"I have sometimes given monsieur le vicomte as many as sixty, messieurs; but it's never less than forty."

"Ha! ha! ha! that is magnificent! sixty cigarettes a day! You deserve a prize, Edward. We'll order a wreath of cigarettes for you!"

"Well, messieurs, what would you have? a man must do something; and when one has no other amusement——"

"Oh! viscount, you can't make us believe that you haven't some beauty to whom you are devoted."

"No, Florville, at this moment I love nobody. I am so utterly blasÉ on the subject of love! It is all over; my heart has lost the power of taking fire; the incendiary glances of my fair friends leave it as cold as ice. And then, when one knows women, one knows how much reliance may be placed on their oaths."

"Oh! there are exceptions," said Dumarsey. "I remember, Edward, when you had a pretty young girl for a mistress—I think you had abducted her, found her at a linen draper's. She came from Lorraine. She was almost a peasant, and you sophisticated her."

"Oh! yes, I remember! You mean Suzanne, don't you?"

"Suzanne, yes, that was what you called her. She seemed to be very fond of you."

"In other words, she loved me too much; it got to be insufferable. She was far too sentimental."

"What did you do with the girl?"

"What did I do with her? Faith, nothing! What do you expect a man to do with a girl of that sort, when she has once been his mistress, and he has had enough of her? I don't see that there's anything for him to do with her."

"Then you don't know what became of her?"

"No, indeed; and I should be very sorry to know. I had enough trouble to rid myself of the little one's importunities.—Give me a cigarette, LÉpinette."

And the viscount, with a testy exclamation, threw on the floor the cigarette he had in his mouth, which he had smoked only a few seconds. Since the mention of the young woman named Suzanne, his brow had clouded, and his face had assumed an ill-humored expression. But young Lamberlong brought back a smile to his lips by exclaiming:

"Oh! mon Dieu! I have entirely forgotten what they give at the Bouffes to-morrow. Can you tell me, messieurs?"

"Oh! give us a moment's peace with your Bouffes, Lamberlong!—Can you understand, messieurs, how a man can attend every blessed performance at the Italiens, when he doesn't know a word of that language?"

"Who told you that I don't know a word of Italian? It's false; I understand it quite well."

"You understand it, but you don't comprehend it."[H]

"You say you understand it; very well! answer this: Pone nos recede."

The young man with red hair scratched his head, looked at the ceiling, and muttered:

"I never heard those words at the Bouffes."

Thereupon the dandy laughed heartily, and Florville exclaimed:

"Didn't you know that Dumarsey was talking Latin to you?"

"Latin! How do you suppose I could understand him, then? What do I know about Latin—a dead language! They don't sing in Latin at the Bouffes."

"Monsieur le vicomte's horse is saddled," said a little groom, putting his nose in at the door.

"All right!—Let us go, messieurs.—By the way, LÉpinette, have you filled my pockets with cigarettes?"

"Yes, monsieur, I have put some everywhere, even in your fob."

"That's right.—To horse, messieurs!"