will be yours, not his!"

The young man's face glowed. "I take the risk!" he cried. "And I thank
you for the chance; that, Madame, whatever betide. But--"

"But what?" she asked, seeing that he hesitated and that his face fell.

"If he afterwards learn that you have played him a trick," he said, "will
he not punish you?"

"Punish me?"

He nodded.

Madame laughed her high disdain. "You do not yet know Hannibal de
Tavannes," she said. "He does not war with women."




CHAPTER XI. A BARGAIN.


It is the wont of the sex to snatch at an ell where an inch is offered,
and to press an advantage in circumstances in which a man, acknowledging
the claims of generosity, scruples to ask for more. The habit, now
ingrained, may have sprung from long dependence on the male, and is one
which a hundred instances, from the time of Judith downwards, prove to be
at its strongest where the need is greatest.