"They found her in her dressing-room. 'Well gentlemen,' she said, 'what
lucky wind has brought you here together at this hour?

"'It is a bet, madam,' answered the unbelieving officer, 'and you alone
can be the umpire in our quarrel. This gentleman has been boasting of
having obtained from you everything a woman can grant to the most
favoured lover. I have given him the lie in the most impressive manner,
and a duel was to ensue, when he offered to have the truth of his boast
certified by you. I have bet twenty-five Louis that you would not admit
it, and he has taken my bet. Now, madam, you can say which of us two is
right.'

"You have lost, sir," she said to him; 'but now I beg both of you to quit
my house, and I give you fair warning that if you ever dare to shew your
faces here again, you will be sorry for it.'

"The two heedless fellows went away dreadfully mortified. The unbeliever
paid the bet, but he was deeply vexed, called the other a coxcomb, and a
week afterwards killed him in a duel.

"Since that time the lady goes to the casino, and continues to mix in
society, but does not see company at her own house, and lives in perfect
accord with her husband."

"How did the husband take it all?"

"Quite well, and like an intelligent, sensible man. He said that, if his
wife had acted differently, he would have applied for a divorce, because
in that case no one would have entertained a doubt of her being guilty."