AN INCROYABLE AND A MERVEILLEUSE  
A cooling sensation brought him to. His glance, at first vague and undecided, gradually settled upon his surroundings. They were in nowise disquieting. He was in a boudoir, which was also used as a dressing-room, and was hung with pearl-gray satin dotted with roses. He was lying upon a sofa covered with the same material as the hangings.
A woman stood behind him, supporting his head with a pillow; another on her knees beside him was bathing his head with a perfumed sponge. This was what had caused that soothing sensation of coolness which had restored him to consciousness. The woman, or rather the young girl, who was bathing his head, was pretty and well dressed; but it was the prettiness and elegance of the waiting-maid. The young man's eyes, therefore, did not linger long upon her, but were raised almost immediately to the woman who stood over him, and who could be none other than the mistress. He uttered a cry of delight, for he recognized the same person who had warned him from the window, and he started as though he would rise and go to her; but two white hands, pressing his shoulders, held him down upon the couch.
"Not so fast, citizen Coster de Saint-Victor!" said the young woman; "we must dress your wound first; and after that we will see how far your gratitude will be allowed to carry you."
"Ah! then you know me, citizeness," exclaimed the young man, with a smile that disclosed teeth of a dazzling[Pg 266] whiteness and a glance that few women could withstand. He had used the democratic "thou" in this speech.
"In the first place," said the young lady, "I wish to remind you that it is becoming very bad form for a man who follows the fashion as you do to say 'thou,' especially to ladies."
"Alas!" sighed the young man, "it is especially with them that the old fashion had its uses. Brutal as it may be when addressed to a man, 'thou' has a tender charm when a lovely woman is its recipient. I have always contended that the English sustained an incalculable loss when they abandoned its use. But I am too grateful, madame, not to obey you; only allow me to repeat my question, though I change its form: Do you know me?"
"Who does not know the handsome Coster de Saint-Victor, who would be the king of fashion and elegance, if the title of king were not abolished."
Coster de Saint-Victor turned suddenly and looked the young lady full in the face.
"Obtain the restoration of kings, madame," said he, "and I will hail the beautiful Aurélie de Saint-Amour as queen."
"So you know me, too, citizen?" said the young woman, laughing.
"Who does not know our modern Aspasia? This is the first time, though, that I have had the honor of seeing you so near at hand, madame, and—"
"And—you were saying?"
"That Paris has no need to envy Athens, nor yet Barras to envy Pericles."
"Come, come! that blow on the head was not as dangerous after all as I thought."
"What do you mean?"
"Because it has not impaired your wit."
"No," replied Coster de Saint-Victor, kissing her beautiful hand, "but it may have taken away my reason."
Just then the bell rang in a peculiar fashion, and the[Pg 267] hand which Coster was holding trembled. Aurélie's waiting-maid rose and looked uneasily at her mistress.
"Madame," said she, "that is the citizen-general."
"Yes," replied the latter, "I recognized his ring."
"What will he say?" asked the maid.
"Nothing."
"What do you mean?"
"I shall not open the door." The courtesan shook her head rebelliously.
"You will not admit citizen-general Barras?" asked the terrified maid.
"What?" cried Coster de Saint-Victor, "was that citizen Barras who rang?"
"Yes," replied Mademoiselle Aurélie de Saint-Amour with a laugh, "and you see he is quite as impatient as ordinary mortals."
"But, madame—" persisted the maid.
"I am mistress in my own house," said the capricious courtesan, "and it pleases me to receive the citizen Coster de Saint-Victor, and it does not please me to receive citizen Barras. I open my door to the first, and I close it to the second, or rather I do not open ............