It was dark in the apartments in the Rue de Constantinople, when Georges du Roy and Clotilde de Marelle, having met at the door, entered them. Without giving him time to raise the shades, the latter said:

“So you are going to marry Suzanne Walter?”

He replied in the affirmative, adding gently: “Did you not know it?”

She answered angrily: “So you are going to marry Suzanne Walter? For three months you have deceived me. Everyone knew of it but me. My husband told me. Since you left your wife you have been preparing for that stroke, and you made use of me in the interim. What a rascal you are!”

He asked: “How do you make that out? I had a wife who deceived me; I surprised her, obtained a divorce, and am now going to marry another. What is more simple than that?”

She murmured: “What a villain!”

He said with dignity: “I beg of you to be more careful as to what you say.”

She rebelled at such words from him: “What! Would you like me to handle you with gloves? You have conducted yourself like a rascal ever since I have known you, and now you do not want me to speak of it. You deceive everyone; you gather pleasure and money everywhere, and you want me to treat you as an honest man.”

He rose; his lips twitched: “Be silent or I will make you leave these rooms.”

She cried: “Leave here — you will make me — you? You forget that it is I who have paid for these apartments from the very first, and you threaten to put me out of them. Be silent, good-for-nothing! Do you think I do not know how you stole a portion of Vaudrec’s bequest from Madeleine? Do you think I do not know about Suzanne?”

He seized her by her shoulders and shook her. “Do not speak of that; I forbid you.”

“I know you have ruined her!”

He would have taken anything else, but that lie exasperated him. He repeated: “Be silent — take care”— and he shook her as he would have shaken the bough of a tree. Still she continued; “You were her ruin, I know it.” He rushed upon her and struck her as if she had been a man. Suddenly she ceased speaking, and groaned beneath his blows. Finally he desisted, paced the room several times in order to regain his self-possession, entered the bedroom, filled the basin with cold water and bathed his head. Then he washed his hands and returned to see what Clotilde was doing. She had not moved. She lay upon the floor weeping softly. He asked harshly:

“Will you soon have done crying?”

She did not reply. He stood in the center of the room, somewhat embarrassed, somewhat ashamed, as he saw the form lying before him. Suddenly he seized his hat. “Good evening. You can leave the key with the janitor when you are ready. I will not await your pleasure.”

He left the room, closed the door, sought the porter, and said to him: “Madame is resting. She will go out soon. You can tell the proprietor that I have given notice for the first of October.”

His marriage was fixed for the twentieth; it was to take place at the Madeleine. There had been a great deal of gossip about the entire affair, and many different reports were circulated. Mme. Walter had aged greatly; her hair was gray and she sought solace in religion.

In the early part of September “La Vie Francaise” announced that Baron du Roy de Cantel had become its chief editor, M. Walter reserving the title of manager. To that announcement were subjoined the names of the staff of art and theatrical critics, political reporters, and so forth. Journalists no longer sneered in speaking of “La Vie Francaise;” its success had been rapid and complete. The marriage of its chief editor was what was called a “Parisian event,” Georges du Roy and the Walters having occasioned much comment for some time.

The ceremony took place on a clear, autumn day. At ten o’clock the curious began to assemble; at eleven o’clock, detachments of officers came to disperse the crowd. Soon after, the first guests arrived; they were followed by others, women in rich costumes, men, grave and dignified. The church slowly began to fill. Norbert de Varenne espied Jacques Rival, and joined him.

“Well,” said he, “sharpers always succeed.”

His companion, who was not envious, replied: “So much the better for him. His fortune is made.”

Rival asked: “Do you know what has become of his wife?”

The poet smiled. “Yes and no — she lives a very retired life, I have been told, in the Montmartre quarter. But — there is a but — for some time I have read political articles in ‘La Plume,’ which resemble those of Forestier and Du Roy. They are supposed to be written by a Jean Le Dol, a young, intelligent, handsome man — something like our friend Georges — who has become acquainted with Mme. Forestier. From that I have concluded that she likes beginners and that they like her. She is, moreover, rich; Vaudrec and Laroche-Mathieu were not attentive to her for nothing.”

Rival asked: “Tell me, is it true that Mme. Walter and Du Roy do not speak?”

“Yes. She did not wish to give him her daughter’s hand. But he threatened the old man with shocking revelations. Walter remembered Laroche-Mathieu’s fate and yielded at once; but his wife, obstinate like all women, vowed that she would never address a word to her son-in-law. It is comical to see them together! She looks like the statue of vengeance, and he is very uncomfortable, although he tries to appear at his ease.”

Suddenly the beadle stru............