Edward de Sommerston did not believe what Georgette had told him on the subject of lovers; he was sceptical concerning the virtue of a girl who lived alone and worked for a living.

"This girl," he said to himself, "tries to pass herself off for a model of virtue so as to secure more generous treatment; that's a trick that doesn't fool me. She will submit like the others; for she's a woman, so she must love finery; that's the bait to catch them with."

During the three days that elapsed before she brought him what he had ordered, the young man asked his servant several times if he had happened to meet on the stairs the young woman who lived at the top of the house; but LÉpinette had not seen Georgette, which fact seemed to vex him; he flattered himself, perhaps, that he could make a conquest of the girl more easily than his master could.

On the day that Georgette had appointed, Edward, attired in a coquettish morning nÉgligÉ, awaited the young woman in a pretty little salon which might at need have passed for a boudoir. He was smoking cigarettes, but had ordered them made of a very mild tobacco, in which there was a touch of perfume.

About noon, LÉpinette announced: "Mademoiselle Georgette!" and the young woman appeared, still in her little morning costume.

"I beg your pardon, monsieur," she said, as she courtesied to the viscount, "for presenting myself in this nÉgligÉ; but I have none too much time to work, and I never dress when I expect to stay at home."

"The hussy knows perfectly well that she is more alluring in this dress," thought Edward, "and that is why she comes in her short petticoat. If she weren't so well built, she'd be all bundled up in clothes. We know all about that. Mademoiselle Georgette desires me to admire her good points; therefore, she desires to please me."

And the young man, without stirring from his couch, pointed to a chair and said:

"Take a seat, I beg! You are very attractive thus. Besides, one doesn't dress to call on a neighbor. Will it annoy you if I continue to smoke?"

"Oh! I didn't come here to interfere with your pleasures, monsieur."

"This tobacco is very mild, and the odor is not disagreeable, even to people who don't like tobacco."

"That is true; it smells like patchouli."

"Have you been good enough to remember my cigar case?"

"Here it is, monsieur."

And Georgette handed him a lovely little affair, lined with silk.

"Why, this is delicious! it's an admirable piece of work!" cried Edward.

"Do you like it? So much the better!"

"I should be very exacting if I did not like it. The colors of the little diamonds are blended perfectly. You have no less taste than talent. And it took you only three days to make it?"

"That was quite long enough."

"It should be worth fifty francs, at least."

"No, that would be too much; I am content with the price I told you."

"But in that case you earn less than five francs a day, for you have to buy your wool and your silk."

"Oh! if I earned five francs a day, that would be too fine; I should be too rich!"

"So you are not ambitious, eh? You have no desire to change your position?"

"Hum! that depends. To change it for a short time would hardly be worth while. Sometimes I have had dreams: at such times, I see myself in a superb apartment; I have diamonds and handsome dresses, a carriage, and servants to wait on me; oh! it's magnificent!"

"I understand the moral!" said Edward to himself. "We would like to obtain all those things! The damsel seems to be decidedly calculating!"

While making these reflections, the young man left his couch and planted himself in front of the chair occupied by Georgette; and there, with his head thrown back and one hand on his hip, he eyed her coolly and laughed in her face, saying:

"Do you know that you're nobody's fool, my dear?"

Georgette supported his stare and his question without the slightest trace of emotion; she simply rose from her chair and said:

"I am very glad that you have so good an opinion of me, monsieur."

"Pray keep your seat; do you think of running away already?"

"Yes, monsieur; for I don't pass my time doing nothing, myself; I can't afford it."

"One moment—let us talk a little. In the first place, you can't go away till I have paid you."

"Oh! I am not worried! I'll trust you."

"You might make a mistake.—Do give me a few seconds. It affords me much pleasure to talk with you."

Edward took her hand, and she consented to resume her chair; whereupon he seated himself very close to her, saying:

"Shall I tell you something?"

"What is it?"

"I am in love with you!"

"Ha! ha! ha! what folly!"

"It may perhaps be folly! But, whatever it is, it's the truth all the same! Yes, I am in love with you. That rather surprises me; for I haven't been able to fall in love for some time past. It must be that there is in you something—I don't know what—more enticing than in other women. Look you! I verily believe, God forgive me! that it's your little petticoat that has turned my head!"

"Then, monsieur, I will run upstairs and send you the petticoat, so that you may have nothing more to wish for."

"Hum! you scamp! No, that would not be enough for me! I want the petticoat and all it contains!—What a sweet little hand!"

"Oh! monsieur, don't touch me, I beg! I have told you before that I don't like such manners."

"That is true; I keep forgetting that you are a vestal! I am so unaccustomed to meeting such!"

"Oh! you have a very bad opinion of women! Surely you must have met some virtuous ones, whom you seduced and then deserted, like the others!"

"It is possible; I don't remember. With me the past is always in the wrong."

"Oh! I am sure of that! That is why it is necessary to take precautions for the future."

"What an amusing creature! Do you [tu] know that you [tu] are most amusing?"

"I forbid you to thou me, monsieur. You have no excuse for doing it."

"Because you are not my mistress yet? That is true; but you will be before long; it amounts to the same thing."

"No, monsieur, I shall not be your mistress. I tell you again not to talk to me in that way; if you do, I shall go away and not come again."

"Come, come, be calm, Mademoiselle Georgette! you shall be treated respectfully. Tell me, darling, you will take me for your lover, won't you?"

"No, monsieur."

"What! Am I so very disagreeable to you?"

"Oh, no! it isn't that."

"Oho! as long as it isn't that, then you will listen to me."

"No, I will not listen to you; because I know that you are too fickle, that you never keep a mistress more than a month at the longest; and I don't choose to be cast aside like that."

"Somebody has been telling you fairy tales. I won't say that I love forever. Pardieu! my fair, if we did not leave them, they would leave us. Someone must begin, and I prefer that I should be the one."

"You have a way of settling matters which doesn't cause me to change my opinion about you. You are too much run after, too popular in good society, to attach yourself to a grisette!"

"There's some truth in what you say! You argue well, my charming friend; but allow me to tell you that I've had my fill and more of great ladies, and that I am absolutely indifferent to what people may say and think of me."

"I don't believe you.—Adieu, monsieur! I must go home."

"Oh! I don't let you go until I have an answer from you."

"Later—we will see."

"Then you will come again to see me? By the way, I must have two more cigar cases; I want them to give to my friends. Meanwhile, let me pay you for this one."

And the young man took a purse full of gold from his pocket and tossed it into Georgette's lap. She looked at it for a moment, then weighed it in her hand, and said:

"What is this?"

"It's what I owe you."

The pretty creature opened the purse and amused herself by counting its contents.

"Almost five hundred francs! Really, that's a high price for a cigar case!"

"But you are going to make me two more; that will pay for them all."

"Oh! no, monsieur; I can't accept so much; I will take what is due me, but no more."

As she spoke, Georgette took fifteen francs in gold from the purse, which she proceeded to place on the table. Then she ran from the room, crying:

"Adieu, monsieur le vicomte! I will come again when your cigar cases are done."

Edward was so surprised by the girl's abrupt departure, that he did not even think of detaining her.