indecision.

"My old and ever young friend," he said, taking her round the waist,
for she was alone in her little salon, "I won't have any secret from
you. A great affair is in the wind for me. I can't tell you more than
that, but I can ask you to be particularly charming to a certain young
man--"

"Who is it?"

"La Peyrade."

"Why, Charles?"

"He holds my future in his hands. Besides, he's a man of genius. I
know what that is. He's got this sort of thing,"--and Thuillier made
the gesture of a dentist pulling out a back tooth. "We must bind him
to us, Flavie. But, above all, don't let him see his power. As for me,
I shall just give and take with him."

"Do you want me to be coquettish?"

"Not too much so, my angel," replied Thuillier, with a foppish air.

And he departed, not observing the stupor which overcame Flavie.

"That young man is a power," she said to herself. "Well, we shall
see!"

For these reasons she dressed her hair with marabouts, put on her