matter of fact, felt such deep respect for priests and their ghosts in
consequence of the apparition, that a short time after his wife had left
purgatory for the last time, in order to talk with him, he turned
_Protestant_.




CRASH


Love is stronger than death, and consequently also, than the greatest
crash.

A young, and by no means bad-looking son of Palestine, and one of the
barons of the Almanac of the _Ghetto_, who had left the field covered
with wounds in the last general engagement on the Stock Exchange, used
to go very frequently to the Universal Exhibition in Vienna in 1873, in
order to divert his thoughts, and to console himself amidst the varied
scenes, and the numerous objects of attraction there. One day he met a
newly married couple in the Russian section, who had a very old coat of
arms, but on the other hand, a very modest income.

This latter circumstance had frequently emboldened the stockbroker to
make secret overtures to the delightful little lady; overtures which
might have fascinated certain Viennese actresses, but which were sure to
insult a respectable woman. The baroness, whose name appeared in the
_Almanack de Gotha_, therefore felt something very like hatred for the
man from the _Ghetto_, and for a long time her pretty little head had
been full of various plans of revenge.