to Mademoiselle Hortense, had expired; but ashamed to exhibit her
husband in his present condition to the eyes of strangers, Natalie
prepared to re-conduct her to the _Maison Royale_ herself. Looking
into the dining-room as they passed, they saw De Chaulieu lying on a
sofa fast asleep, in which state he continued when his wife returned.
At length, however, the driver of their carriage begged to know if
Monsieur and Madame were ready to return to Paris, and it became
necessary to arouse him. The transitory effects of the champagne had
now sub sided; but when De Chaulieu recollected what had happened,
nothing could exceed his shame and mortification. So engrossing indeed
were these sensations that they quite overpowered his previous ones,
and, in his present vexation, he, for the moment, forgot his fears.
He knelt at his wife's feet, begged her pardon a thousand times, swore
that he adored her, and declared that the illness and the effect of
the wine had been purely the consequences of fasting and over-work.
It was not the easiest thing in the world to reassure a woman whose
pride, affection, and taste, had been so severely wounded; but Natalie
tried to believe, or to appear to do so, and a sort of reconciliation
ensued, not quite sincere on the part of the wife, and very humbling
on the part of the husband. Under these circumstances it was
impossible that he should recover his spirits or facility of manner;
his gayety was forced, his tenderness constrained; his heart was
heavy within him; and ever and anon the source whence all this
disappointment and woe had sprung would recur to his perplexed,
tortured mind.

Thus mutually pained and distrustful, they returned to Paris, which
they reached about nine o'clock. In spite of her depression, Natalie,
who had not seen her new apartments, felt some curiosity about them,
whilst De Chaulieu anticipated a triumph in exhibiting the elegant