''Worthy  Madame  Florent ''

''You  said  the  Eocher  de  Caneale. — ^Were  you  at  the
Florents'?^'

"Yes,  at  their  house ;  I  made  a  mistake/*

"You  did  not  take  a  coach  to  come  homeP*

"No/'

"And  you  have  walked  from  the  Eue  des  Toumelles  V^

"Stidmann  and  Bixiou  came  back  with  me  along  the  boule-
Tards  as  far  as  the  Madeleine,  talking  all  the  way/*

"It  is  dry  then  on  the  boulevards  and  the  Place  de  la  Con-
corde and  the  Rue  de  Bourgogne?  You  are  not  muddy  at
all  !**  said  Hortense,  looking  at  her  husband's  patent  leather
boots.
It  had  been  raining,  but  between  the  Rue  Vanneau  and  the
Rue  Saint-Dominique  Wenceslas  had  not  got  his  boots  soiled.
"Here — here  are  five  thousand  francs  Chfinor  has  been  so
generous  as  to  lend  me,*'  said  Wenceslas,  to  cut  short  this
lawyer-like  examination.
He  had  made  a  division  of  the  ten  thousand-franc  notes,
half  for  Hortense  and  half  for  himself,  for  he  had  five  thou-
sand francs'  worth  of  debts  of  which  Hortense  knew  nothing.
He  owed  money  to  his  foreman  and  his  workmen.
"Now  your  anxieties  are  relieved,"  said  he,  kissing  his  wife.
"I  am  going  to  work  to-morrow.  Yes,  I  am  off  to  the  studio
at  half-past  eight  to-morrow  mormng.  So  I  am  going  to  bed
this  minute  to  get  up  early,  by  your  leave,  my  pet."

The  suspicion  that  had  dawned  in  Hortense's  mind  van-
ished; she  was  miles  away  from  the  truth.  Madame  Mar-
neffe !  She  never  thought  of  her.  Her  fear  for  her  Wenceslas
was  that  he  should  fall  in  with  street  prostitutes.  The  names
of  Bixiou  and  L6on  de  Lora,  two  artists  noted  for  their  wild
dissipations,  had  alarmed  her.
