"
"I think you may trust me to protect myself against intruders," he
said, not without a little pique.
"That is how I should prefer the thing arranged," she answered
coldly. "I know you men; you think nothing of a woman's
reputation."
Silas blushed and somewhat hung his head; for the scheme he had in
view had involved a little vain-glorying before his acquaintances.
"Above all," she added, "do not speak to the porter as you come
out."
"And why?" said he. "Of all your instructions, that seems to me
the least important."
"You at first doubted the wisdom of some of the others, which you
now see to be very necessary," she replied. "Believe me, this also
has its uses; in time you will see them; and what am I to think of
your affection, if you refuse me such trifles at our first
interview?"
Silas confounded himself in explanations and apologies; in the
middle of these she looked up at the clock and clapped her hands
together with a suppressed scream.
"Heavens!" she cried, "is it so late? I have not an instant to
lose. Alas, we poor women, what slaves we are! What have I not
risked for you already?"
And after repeating her directions, which she artfully combined
with caresses and the most abandoned looks, she bade him farewell
and disappeared among the crowd.
The whole of the next day Silas was filled with a sense of great
importance; he was now sure she was a countess; and when evening
came he minutely obeyed her orders and was at the corner of the
Luxembourg Gardens by the hour appointed.
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