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163 THE ETRUSCAN VASE 163

in this world without being thought ill of 1 One ought really never to talk of anything but the weather and hunting, or eagerly to discuss with your old friends the reports of their benevolent societies."

He picked up a paper from the table near him.

" Come, here is your lace-cleaner's biU. Let us discuss that, sweetheart; then you can not say I am iU-tempered."

" ReaUy, Auguste, you amaze me. . . ." " This handwriting puts me in mind of a letter I found this morning. I must explain that I have fits of imtidiness occasionally, and I was arranging my papers. Well, then, I found a love-letter from a dressmaker with whom I fell in love at sixteen. She had a trick of writing each word most fantastically, and her style was equal to her writing. Well, I was foolish enough then to be vexed that my mistress could not write as well as Madame de Sevigne, and I left her abruptly. In reading over this letter to-day I see that this dressmaker really did love me."

" ReaUy! a woman whom you kept? " " In fine style on fifty francs a month. But I could not aif ord more, as my guardian only allowed me a little money at a time, for he said