Huan Mee

“ A friend of yours, madame—Gaspard Levivé."
"It is not true," I cried; and the blood mounted to my cheeks in anger, for truly Gaspard Levivé was a friend of mine, one whom I delighted to call my greatest friend.
"It is only too true," Monsieur Roché gravely answered. "I am disgraced, and the young fool is ruined. At least not ruined," he bitterly continued: "doubtless he will be rewarded by the new ministry."
"If this be the prelude to a commission, monsieur, I refuse it."
"There is no commission, madame; the day is hopelessly lost. I have been betrayed by my own secretary." ”

“ With an abandon worthy of "Carmen" herself I turned my fascinations upon him; with a swift glance at Gaspard, who instantly comprehended, I sent him to the side of the Countess, and she, nothing loath to be the centre of a group of admirers, elated because her mission was over, encouraged them, and kept them from her with the arts of one born to coquetry.
The saints be praised, all men are young—or, at least, feel they are—when a pretty woman smiles upon them. He was what a diplomat would have called middle-aged, but—saints be praised—I am a pretty woman. ”

“ There was an uplifting of the eyebrows on the part of the Duke, as the trick which had disarmed many an opponent was skilfully met, a tightening of the lips by Sir Edward as a similar attempt of his own was as easily frustrated.
It was a duel that set my blood tingling with excitement, as pass after pass was parried, thrust after thrust was turned aside, and neither man gained a point, neither man lost an inch, until it seemed that equals had met, and who was victor would never be determined; that to be vanquished would be almost as great an honor as to vanquish. ”

“ I turned poor virtue into my necessity, as all did whom Monsieur Roché asked to favor him.
"One would even risk madame's anger for the happiness of seeing her," he murmured, as he took my hand; for, though he held the reputation of one not admiring the sweeter sex, a better gallant for turning a compliment, a more skilful adept in the epigram of flattery, this jaded world has never viewed. ”

“ To skate for an hour and then sit and sip one's coffee, to hold an informal reception among one's own particular enemies, or to flirt with one's dearest friends for the remainder of the afternoon, was now the amusement upon which Society had set its approving hall-mark, and for once in the way the craze that fashionable Paris had smiled upon was something in the nature of pleasure, and not a task. ”

“ I want you to go for a week to the solitudes of the Forest of Lecrese, in the Kingdom of Elvirna, and, winning this young headstrong from his folly, add yet another service to those which have made me eternally your debtor. Show him—it will be so easy!—what poor theatrical blandishments are possessed by this play-actress when compared with the wit and sparkle of a brilliant woman—what faded beauty when nature challenges art. ”

“ Am I not a good diplomat?"
"You're the most irritating middle-aged man in France."
My companion shrugged his shoulders, smiled for a moment, and then leaned towards me. "I did not steal it, and Gaspard did not." He raised his eyebrows.
"Hun Sun stole it himself."
"Precisely my own opinion," Monsieur Roché murmured, appreciatively. "He, although a chosen envoy to France, is against us. He was bound to deliver his message, but in the same instant he rendered it futile. We cannot own that we have lost the seal, and without it we cannot accept." ”

“ So I require another card for the carnival—get it secretly for me."
"Success is assured," he cried, enthusiastically.
"Not so fast, mon ami. She already suspects me—I could see it in her eyes—and therefore you must act with consummate tact; you must delay the delivery of the key on some pretence until an hour before the ball, and so render it impossible for it to be revealed to any one except at the carnival. Then I know when it will be done—directly I have left."
"After you have left?" he cried, in bewilderment.
"After my maid has left with the Countess Zarfine's message for you." ”

“ I answered, hesitatingly.
"Think what Russia would pay for your services, you in the heart of the secrets of diplomatic France."
"Not sufficient to destroy my patriotism," I said, lest it should seem that I yielded too easily.
"The ardor of one's patriotism regulates one's price," he responded. "Think what would they not pay you."
"Tush!" I cried; "this is foolishness. You wish to tempt me to place myself in your power, for fear I may yet prove dangerous. What authority do you possess to make promises for Russia? It is childish; I will go." ”

“ He raised my fingers to his lips with a smile of satisfaction, and I, having whispered to mademoiselle that after all it was scarcely worth while mentioning Martinique, and gained a smile of mingled thanks and forgiveness, departed, satisfied with the success of my mission, and happy in the knowledge that I had played for the highest stakes that it had been my lot to know—played and won.
There are Boulevard cynics who would declare that, being a woman, I must be miserable because I did not know the name of the thief or the miraculous method he employed. ”

“ Infatuation gives way to greater temptation. He would fall madly in love with the first fresh, pretty face he saw."
"Thank you, monsieur!" I cried, with mock indignation, and, rising, I courtesied to the ground before the perplexed gaze of my friend, who shivered at his blunder.
He twisted his mustache with energy, but did not speak; and I, regaining possession of my fan, waved it with an air of lofty scorn, and tried to keep back the smile that, despite my efforts, was breaking round the curves of my lips. ”

“ Le Duc d'Eautine, Monsieur Faudé, his bosom friend, and Sir Edward Rivington, the lost Ambassador, all seemingly charmed with one another's company, and only a suspicious-looking case, leaning against the tree, spoiled the harmony of the gathering.
It is a thing I have since almost boasted of. I am the only woman who has ever caused that paragon of courtesy, le Duc d'Eautine, to lose his temper and forget all etiquette.
"Sapristi!" he gasped, as I alighted—"what pleasantry is this, madame? ”

“ I recognized the prelude to a commission, and became attentive, for I was ennui of the tiring pleasures that make up the daily routine of the existence of a woman of fashion.
"It is different from the English affair," he whispered, reflectively.
"And so it need be!" I replied, a little testily, for Gaspard Levivé and I had been somewhat ill at ease with each other since we journeyed tête-à-tête from London to Paris.
"It is what a woman's soul craves for—romance." ”

“ I admit that I sneered at several of your own affairs of honor. I confess that I regarded them as child's play, not knowing then, as I do now, that you are a sublime master of the art of swordsmanship, and could have killed every man who stood before you."
"Every man, save yourself, Sir Edward!" the Duke exclaimed, with a slight smile of satisfaction.
"You were playing, as I was, for the disarm."
"And neither of us succeeded. Frankly, for the first time in my life I have met my equal. Strange that he should be one of the nation that discountenances the use of the rapier." ”

“ He looked at me for a moment in undisguised admiration, and then sank back and whispered with contented appreciation, "Mon Dieu! you are a wonderful woman."
"And a fortunate one," I replied, "to win the approbation of so accomplished a diplomat."
"Ma chère," he murmured, "men are diplomats by education, women by intuition. It is civilization against nature."
"The dresses we have mentioned," I continued, "will probably be worn by our maids, leaving the Countess Zarfine at liberty to carry out her work, and me free to frustrate her; for I am certain now that it is she who reveals the cipher. ”

“ I decided that it was better for France not to keep that pledge."
"But not better for me," mademoiselle cried, "and I am even before France."
"It is your own folly that has caused you to be suspected," he responded.
"It is the devices that men call dishonesty and statesmen diplomacy," she answered; and he put his arm around her waist and drew her back until she was seated upon the edge of his chair.
"Pretty little girls must not use cynical epigrams," he said, softly, as one petting a spoiled child. "Now, come, what is it you want?" ”

“ What right, I asked myself, had a man to keep such an invention to himself, when it would be a crowning laurel to the glory of France?
Throughout the day my heart was high with elation, but as darkness fell my spirits drooped too, for I recollected the events of the previous night, and speculated on the wisdom, or want of wisdom, of a cruise beneath the sea with a man who, to say the least of it, was distinctly eccentric. ”

“ What so simple as to discover if a man so well known in Paris as Sir Edward Rivington had crossed the Channel?
And yet, if things were as Monsieur Roché asserted, what infinite pains would be taken to conceal the visit! Looked at from that point of view, the mission appeared more fitting to my disposition, and I accepted.
Why is it ever the fashion to speak of London as a city of smoke and gloom? Paris is not all Champs-Elysées. We have our sunlight and our shadow; and London, sublime in its rugged beauty of stability, common alike to the city and the people, has the same ”

“ What creatures of impulse the sex we prefer must be. In a four hours' journey from Calais to Paris he must needs choose the last seventy seconds for serious conversation, in order to be interrupted at the instant when I was most attentive. And how those supreme moments, when lost, seem to be lost forever! Commonplaces, commonplaces, small talk and frivolity from Paris on to Versailles, from Versailles to the Chateau of le Duc d'Eautine. ”

“ I replied, and then, as he shrugged his shoulders deprecatingly, I, in the elation of my victory, bestowed my most dazzling smile upon him and begged him to forgive my unceremonious intrusion.
"You ask too much," he replied, with a glance that made me feel how well I was suited by my gown—"you ask too much, madame; my privilege must be ever to remember it."
The seal was in my hand as he gently placed my cloak around my shoulders, in my left hand as he raised my right to his lips, still there as he bowed again and again to me, and I walked towards the door, tried it, and found it locked. ”

“ Monsieur Roché cried in an awe-stricken voice; "trifling with Russia!"
"Who holds this cipher?"
"Myself and Count Zarfine. When it is changed the new cipher is sent to St. Petersburg by him direct to the Minister, and the documents by me, through the diplomatic departments. We have varied the cipher three times, we have sent different messengers each time, but the result has always been the same. The world learned the message at once, and we are fast becoming the laughing-stock of Europe, for the pretty girl is ready to offer so much for alliance." ”

“ The look of annoyance still slumbered in the depths of her dark eyes, and I thought, too, there was the glint of a dawning suspicion; but it was swiftly chased away as she turned with a jest to Monsieur Roché, and after the interchange of a few pleasantries, nodded gayly to us both and rode off.
"You are well matched in one thing," Monsieur Roché suavely remarked, as he watched her retreating figure, "your originality of costume."
"And in another," I replied; "the fact that neither will wear what she has said she will."
The dear man's eyebrows shot upward in bewilderment. ”

“ We rose, and I placed my hand upon his arm. "Modesty is woman's sweetest charm," he remarked, and I gazed into his face, vainly striving to fathom the meaning of an observation so apropos of nothing. "Why mention failure?" he continued, and we returned to the ballroom.
The Woods of Lecrese, bathed in the glowing fire of an audacious sunset, were enough to awaken sentimental yearnings in the breast of one even more worldly than I. A long, undulating road swept far into the purple distance, losing itself among the trees that interlaced above ”

“ I answered; "I am hungry."
"This boat is my coffin," he suddenly ejaculated, looking me straight in the face. "That is why I will sell it to no one."
I nodded, and tried to smile in spite of my terror at this sudden change in his manner and the fierceness with which he gripped my wrist.
"When I am tired of life I shall drive into the midst of the Atlantic, sink Le Diable to the lowest ocean depths, and die."
"Yes, when you are tired of life," I answered. ”