"You are to be madly in love with her, and, not to rouse suspicion,
drink heavily, wines, liqueurs! I'll tell Aurelie to place you beside
Nathan at dinner. One thing more, my boy: you and I must meet every
night, on the boulevard de la Madeleine at one in the morning,--you to
give me an account of progress, I to give you instructions."

"I shall be there, my master," said the young count, bowing.

"Why do you make us dine with that queer fellow dressed like the
head-waiter of a restaurant?" whispered Maxime to Madame Schontz, with
a sign toward Fabien du Ronceret.

"Have you never met the Heir? Du Ronceret of Alencon."

"Monsieur," said Maxime to Fabien, "I think you must know my friend
d'Esgrignon?"

"Victurnien has ceased to know me for some time," replied Fabien, "but
we used to be very intimate in our youth."

The dinner was one of those which are given nowhere but in Paris by
these great female spendthrifts, for the choiceness of their
preparations often surprise the most fastidious of guests. It was at
just such a supper, at the house of a courtesan as handsome and rich
as Madame Schontz, that Paganini declared he had never eaten such fare
at the table of any sovereign, nor drunk such wines with any prince,
nor heard such witty conversation, nor seen the glitter of such
coquettish luxury.

Maxime and Madame Schontz were the first to re-enter the salon, about