The next day Clementine breakfasted very contentedly without Paz, and
without even noticing his disobedience to her orders. It happened to
be her reception day, when the house was thrown open with a splendor
that was semi-royal. She paid no attention to the absence of Comte
Paz, on whom all the burden of these parade days fell.

"Good!" thought he, as he heard the last carriages driving away at two
in the morning; "it was only the caprice or the curiosity of a
Parisian woman that made her want to see me."

After that the captain went back to his ordinary habits and ways,
which had been somewhat upset by this incident. Diverted by her
Parisian occupations, Clementine appeared to have forgotten Paz. It
must not be thought an easy matter to reign a queen over fickle Paris.
Does any one suppose that fortunes alone are risked in the great game?
The winters are to fashionable women what a campaign once was to the
soldiers of the Empire. What works of art and genius are expended on a
gown or a garland in which to make a sensation! A fragile, delicate
creature will wear her stiff and brilliant harness of flowers and
diamonds, silk and steel, from nine at night till two and often three
o'clock in the morning. She eats little, to attract remark to her
slender waist; she satisfied her hunger with debilitating tea, sugared
cakes, ices which heat her, or slices of heavy pastry. The stomach is
made to yield to the orders of coquetry. The awakening comes too late.
A fashionable woman's whole life is in contradiction to the laws of
nature, and nature is pitiless. She has no sooner risen than she makes
an elaborate morning toilet, and thinks of the one which she means to
wear in the afternoon. The moment she is dressed she has to receive
and make visits, and go to the Bois either on horseback or in a
carriage. She must practise the art of smiling, and must keep her mind