This request threw Duthil into consternation, particularly as at that
same moment Silviane perceived Massot outside the wine shop, and began
calling and beckoning to him imperiously. A brief conversation then
ensued between the young woman and the journalist: "I say, Massot!" she
called, "hasn't a deputy the right to pass the guards and take a lady
wherever he likes?"

"Not at all!" exclaimed Duthil. "Massot knows very well that a deputy
ought to be the very first to bow to the laws."

This exclamation warned Massot that Duthil did not wish to leave the
balcony. "You ought to have secured a card of invitation, madame," said
he, in reply to Silviane. "They would then have found you room at one of
the windows of La Petite Roquette. Women are not allowed elsewhere. . . .
But you mustn't complain, you have a very good place up there."

"But I can see nothing at all, my dear Massot."

"Well, you will in any case see more than Princess de Harn will. Just now
I came upon her carriage in the Rue du Chemin Vert. The police would not
allow it to come any nearer."

This news made Silviane merry again, whilst Duthil shuddered at the idea
of the danger he incurred, for Rosemonde would assuredly treat him to a
terrible scene should she see him with another woman. Then, an idea
occurring to him, he ordered a bottle of champagne and some little cakes
for his "beautiful friend," as he called Silviane. She had been
complaining of thirst, and was delighted with the opportunity of
perfecting her intoxication. When a waiter had managed to place a little
table near her, on the balcony itself, she found things very pleasant,