hours spent in delicious enjoyment, I got up and called for our supper.
The repast was simple, but very good. We looked at one another without
speaking, for how could we find words to express our feelings? We thought
that our felicity was extreme, and we enjoyed it with the certainty that
we could renew it at will.

The hostess came up to enquire whether we wanted anything, and she asked
if we were not going to the opera, which everybody said was so beautiful.

"Have you never been to the opera?"

"Never, because it is too dear for people in our position. My daughter
has such a wish to go, that, God forgive me for saying it! she would give
herself, I truly believe, to the man who would take her there once."

"That would be paying very dear for it," said my little wife, laughing.
"Dearest, we could make her happy at less cost, for that hurts very
much."

"I was thinking of it, my love. Here is the key of the box, you can make
them a present of it."

"Here is the key of a box at the St. Moses Theatre," she said to the
hostess; "it costs two sequins; go instead of us, and tell your daughter
to keep her rose-bud for something better."

"To enable you to amuse yourself, my good woman; take these two sequins,"
I added. "Let your daughter enjoy herself well."

The good hostess, thoroughly amazed at the generosity of her guests, ran