trouble. I thought you might tell Maroli that I have paid you the amount
lost by my husband. Here is a ring of some value; keep it until the 1st
of January, when I will return the two hundred sequins for which I am
ready to give you my note of hand."

"I accept the note of hand, madam, but I cannot consent to deprive you of
your ring. I must also tell you that M. F---- must go himself to the bank,
or send some one there, to redeem his debt. Within ten minutes you shall
have the amount you require."

I left her without waiting for an answer, and I returned within a few
minutes with the two hundred ducats, which I handed to her, and putting
in my pocket her note of hand which she had just written, I bowed to take
my leave, but she addressed to me these precious words:

"I believe, sir, that if I had known that you were so well disposed to
oblige me, I could not have made up my mind to beg that service from
you."

"Well, madam, for the future be quite certain that there is not a man in
the world capable of refusing you such an insignificant service whenever
you will condescend to ask for it in person."

"What you say is very complimentary, but I trust never to find myself
again under the necessity of making such a cruel experiment."

I left Madame F-----, thinking of the shrewdness of her answer. She had
not told me that I was mistaken, as I had expected she would, for that
would have caused her some humiliation: she knew that I was with M.
D---- R---- when the adjutant had brought her letter, and she could not