"Look! Here she comes! She is passing us again. One would think she
was deliberately trying to do it!" exclaimed Madame Desvanneaux, just
before their carriage reached the Arc de Triomphe.

Zibeline's sleigh, which had glided swiftly, and without hindrance, along
the unfrequented track used chiefly by equestrians, had indeed overtaken
the Duchess's carriage. Turning abruptly to the left, it entered the
open gateway belonging to one of the corner houses of the Rond-Point de
l'Etoile.

"Decidedly, the young lady is very fond of posing," said the General,
with a shrug, and, settling himself in his corner, he turned his thoughts
elsewhere.

Having deposited her two friends at their own door, the Duchess ordered
the coachman to take her home, and at the foot of the steps she said to
her brother:

"Will you dine with us to-night?"

"No, not to-night," he replied, "but we shall meet at the theatre."

And, crossing the court, he entered his little bachelor apartment, which
he had occupied from time to time since the days when he was only a sub-
lieutenant.