bedside. She burst out laughing and lifted her pillow, beneath which
lay a mass of bank-notes to which she pointed.

Raoul called to Blondet.

"Ah! I see!" cried Blondet. "The little cheat has sold herself out
without a word to us. Well done, you little angel!"

Thereupon, the actress was borne in triumph into the dining-room where
most of the party still remained. The lawyer and du Tillet had
departed.

That evening Florine had an ovation at the theatre; the story of her
sacrifice had circulated among the audience.

"I'd rather be applauded for my talent," said her rival in the
green-room.

"A natural desire in an actress who has never been applauded at all,"
remarked Florine.

During the evening Florine's maid installed her in Raoul's apartment
in the Passage Sandrie. Raoul himself was to encamp in the house where
the office of the new journal was established.

Such was the rival of the innocent Madame de Vandenesse. Raoul was the
connecting link between the actress and the countess,--a knot severed
by a duchess in the days of Louis XV. by the poisoning of Adrienne
Lecouvreur; a not inconceivable vengeance, considering the offence.