But if we pay, without counting, for his sol-
diers and his doctors, we will no longer pay
for his mistresses ; we have other things to
do with our money than to support Madame
de Pompadour."

'*I do not defend her, sir. I could not
pretend to say either that she was in the
wrong or in the right. I have never seen
her."

''Doubtless ; and you would not be sorry

to see her, — ^is it not so ? — ^in order to have

an opinion on the subject ? For, at your

U



The Beauty-Spot

age, the head judges through the eyes. Try
it then, if the fancy takes you. But the
satisfaction will he denied you.''

**Wliy, sir?"

'* Because such an attempt is ptire folly ;
because this Marquise is as invisible in her
little boudoir at Brimborion as the Grand
Turk in his seraglio ; because every door
will be shut in your face. What are you
going to do ? Attempt an impossibility ?
Court fortune like an adventurer ? "

" By no means, but like a lover. I do not
intend to supplicate, sir, but to protest
against an injustice. I had a well-founded
hope, almost a promise, from M. de Biron;
I was on the eve of possessing the object of
my love, and this love is not unreasonable ;
you have not disapproved of it. Let me
venture, then, to plead my own cause.
