"HE SANK ON HIS KNEES BESIDE HER" " " 140 "SHE DREW HER DOWN UNTIL THE GIRL KNEELED UPON THE FLOOR BESIDE HER" " " 146 "'MONSIEUR THE COUNT DE ST. GERMAINE!'" " " 148 "THE COUNT DE ST. GERMAINE, WITHOUT REMOVING HIS EYES FROM HIS VICTIM, TOOK ANOTHER DEEP, LUXURIOUS PINCH OF SNUFF" " " 152 "OLIVER FIXED HIS GAZE UPON THE SMOOTH, BRILLIANT SURFACE OF THE GLASS" " " 166 "THEY BEHELD THEIR MASTER LYING UPON HIS FACE UNDER THE TABLE" " " 176 "SUDDENLY SOME ONE TOUCHED OLIVER SLIGHTLY UPON THE SHOULDER" " " 178 "'CÉLESTE!' BREATHED OLIVER THROUGH THE CRACK OF THE DOOR" " " 186 "HE FOUND IN HIS CLINCHED HAND A LACE CRAVAT" " " 194 "OVER HIS SHOULDERS HE CARRIED SOMETHING LIMP, LIKE AN EMPTY SKIN, OR A BUNDLE OF CLOTHES TIED TOGETHER" " " 198 [Illustration] A MODERN ALADDIN; OR, THE WONDERFUL ADVENTURES OF OLIVER MUNIER. An Extravaganza in Four Acts. [Illustration] A MODERN ALADDIN. PROLOGUE. The Comte de St. Germaine was a real historical character. Of all the many adventurers brilliant and volatile that flitted across the polished surface of Parisian life during the gay butterfly days of La Pompadour, none was more interesting, none left a more fascinating reflection, than he. No one knew who he was, no one knew his antecedents, no one knew whence he came, but there he suddenly appeared, to shine transiently and somewhat luridly for a year or two in a certain heaven of quasi high life. Nothing could have been more sudden than his advent. One day he was unheard of; the next, all the world talked of him, gazed at him, and wondered. Great people adopted him and made much of him; courtiers and cabinet ministers bowed to him; the king petted him, talked with him in his privy closet by the hour, and held long and intimate discourse with him. He possessed the rare and distinguished privilege of a free and familiar entrée to Madame de Pompadour's dressing-room--a crowning honor, and one only enjoyed by the greatest and most favored courtiers.