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of your friends whom you might meet, and who certainly would have passed by you ten times without suspecting that this costly envelope hid Mademoiselle Mimi. On the other hand, by wearing this veil up, it was it that risked escaping notice, and in that case, what was the good of having it? You had cleverly solved the difficulty by alternately raising and lowering it at every tenth step; this wonderful tissue, woven, no doubt, in that country of spiders, called Flanders, and which of itself alone cost more than the whole of your former wardrobe.

“Ah, Mimi! Forgive me—I should say, ah, vicomtesse! I was quite right, you see, when I said to you: ‘Patience, do not despair, the future is big with cashmere shawls, glittering jewels, supper parties, and the like.’ You would not believe me, incredulous one. Well, my predictions are, however, realized, and I am worth as much, I hope, as your ‘Ladies’ Oracle,’ a little octavo sorcerer you bought for five sous at a bookstall on the Pont Neuf, and which you wearied with eternal questions. Again, I ask, was I not right in my prophecies; and would you believe me now, if I tell you that you will not stop at this? If I told you that listening, I can hear faintly in the depths of your future, the tramp and neighing of the horses harnessed to a blue brougham, driven by a powdered coachman, who lets down the steps, saying, ‘Where to, madam?’ Would you believe me if I told you, too, that later on—ah, as late as possible, I trust—attaining the object of a long cherished ambition, you will have a table d’hôte at Belleville or Batignolles, and will be courted by the old soldiers and by-gone dandies who will come there to play lansquenet or baccarat on the sly? But, before arriving at this period, when the sun of your youth shall have already declined, believe me, my dear child, you will wear out many yards of silk and velvet, many inheritances, no doubt, will be melted down in the crucibles of