"Cursy was remarkable for his ferocious industry. Nobody suspects the
source to which Paris owes the patch-and-powder eighteenth century
vaudevilles that flooded the stage. Those thousand-and-one
vaudevilles, which raised such an outcry among the _feuilletonistes_,
were written at Mme. du Bruel's express desire. She insisted that her
husband should purchase the hotel on which she had spent so much,
where she had housed five hundred thousand francs' worth of furniture.
Wherefore Tullia never enters into explanations; she understands the
sovereign woman's reason to admiration.

"'People made a good deal of fun of Cursy,' said she; 'but, as a
matter of fact, he found this house in the eighteenth century
rouge-box, powder, puffs, and spangles. He would never have thought
of it but for me,' she added, burying herself in the cushions in her
fireside corner.

"She delivered herself thus on her return from a first night. Du
Bruel's piece had succeeded, and she foresaw an avalanche of
criticisms. Tullia had her At Homes. Every Monday she gave a
tea-party; her society was as select as might be, and she neglected
nothing that could make her house pleasant. There was a bouillotte in
one room, conversation in another, and sometimes a concert (always
short) in the large drawing-room. None but the most eminent artists
performed in the house. Tullia had so much good sense, that she
attained to the most exquisite tact, and herein, in all probability,
lay the secret of her ascendency over du Bruel; at any rate, he loved
her with the love which use and wont at length makes indispensable to
life. Every day adds another thread to the strong, irresistible,
intangible web, which enmeshes the most delicate fancies, takes