duchess, it is true; but Duchess of Courtalin, and not Duchess of
Lannilis. Well, perhaps that would have been better! At any rate, I wish
to give Aunt Louise the authentic history of our marriage."

"Tell away, if it amuses you," said Gontran.

"Yes, sir, it amuses me. You shall know all, Aunt Louise--all,
absolutely all; and I beg you to be judge of our quarrel."

This scene was taking place eight days after Marceline de Lorlauge, at
the Church of the Madeleine, before the altar, hidden under a mountain
of roses, had answered "yes," with just the right amount of nervousness
and emotion (neither too much nor too little, but exactly right), when
she was asked if she was willing to take for husband her cousin, Jean
Leopold Mathurin Arbert Gontran, Duke of Lannilis.

This marriage had been the great marriage of the season. There had been
an absolute crush under the colonnade and against the railings of the
church to see the bride walk down those fearful steps of the Madeleine.
What an important feat that is! Merely to be beautiful is not all that
is needful; it is necessary besides to know how to be beautiful. There
is an art about being pretty which requires certain preparations and
study. In society, as in the theatre, success rarely comes at once. Mme.
de Lannilis had the good-fortune to make her first appearance with
decisive success. She was at once quite easily and boldly at home in her
beauty; she had only to appear to triumph. Prince Nérins had not a
moment's hesitation concerning it, and he it is, as every one knows,
who, with general consent, has made himself the distributor of the
patents of supreme Parisian elegance; so while the new duchess, beneath
the fire of a thousand eyes and behind the ringing staffs, was taking