thousand francs and sold again for ten millions; the cost price of a
throne sold at three millions for which the account could be seen in the
books of an upholsterer of the Faubourg Saint-Honore did not exceed a
hundred thousand francs; and the funniest part of it was that, the Bey
having changed his mind, the royal seat, fallen into disgrace before it
had even been unpacked, remained still nailed in its packing-case at the
custom-house in Tripoli.

Next, beyond these wildly extravagant commissions on the provision of
the least toy, they laid stress upon accusations more grave but no less
certain, since they also sprang from the same source. It seemed there
was, adjoining the seraglio, a harem of European women admirably
equipped for his Highness by the Nabob, who must have been a good
judge in such matters, having practised formerly, in Paris--before
his departure for the East--the most singular trades: vendor of
theatre-tickets, manager of a low dancing-hall, and of an establishment
more ill-famed still. And the whispering ended in a smothered laugh, the
coarse laugh of men chatting among themselves.

The first impulse of the young man from the country, as he heard these
infamous calumnies, was to turn round and exclaim:

"You lie!"

A few hours earlier he would have done it without hesitating; but, since
he had been there, he had learned distrust, scepticism. He contained
himself, therefore, and listened to the end, motionless in the same
place, having deep down within himself an unavowed desire to become
further acquainted with the man whose service he had entered. As for
the Nabob, the completely unconscious subject of this hideous recital,