When Iris proposed to Madame de Hansfeld to reply for her to M. de Brévannes on the subject of the interview which was to take place in the Jardin des Plantes, she not only prevented the princess from committing an imprudent act, but, unknown to her mistress, made her an accomplice in a most diabolical project. Our readers, no doubt, remember a _black book_ of which Iris had spoken to M. de Brévannes, and in which she told him the princess wrote her most secret thoughts almost every day. Nothing could be more false. Paula had never possessed such a book; but it was important to the plots of Iris that M. de Brévannes should credit the falsehood, and his belief would be confirmed when he recognised, in this book, writing similar to that of the note which Madame de Hansfeld had now sent to him. The profound dissimulation, the bold and mischievous plotting of Iris may excite some astonishment; and it may be, perhaps, equally difficult to comprehend her savage affection, her intense jealousy which had almost become ferocious monomania. Unfortunately, the main facts of this tale, the principal features in Iris's character, are perfectly true. There has been known a young girl, with passions so ardent, so implacable, which she has combined, concentrated in the blind attachment she had for her benefactress, a singular affection which approached filial veneration in its religious devotion, maternal tenderness in its charming and pure familiarity, and love in its vindictive jealousy. If, in the sequel of this tale, there is detected in Iris a great power of imagination joined to an inventive mind, full of stratagem, adroit, and bold,--if any of her combinations seem worked out with a perfidy and skill most rare in a girl of her age, we repeat that solitude had singularly developed her natural faculties, incessantly devoted to one end, and that, compelled to act alone and beneath the shade of the deepest dissimulation, she held every means good that was likely to bring her to the one concentrated object of her desires,-- _To isolate her mistress from every affection._ To create, as it were, a void around her, and become to her the more necessary as every other attachment failed her. This last desire of Iris had hitherto been unsatisfied. There is no doubt that Madame de Hansfeld felt for her companion a real attachment, placed boundless confidence in her, and was invariably kind and affectionate towards her; but this was not sufficient for the heart of Iris. She experienced the most bitter, painful resentment at what she called a deception; but, as she was unable to hate her mistress, her execration accumulated against those who inspired the princess with the slightest interest. These explanations are necessary in order to prepare the reader for the events which follow. In the two interviews, which her first meeting with De Brévannes had procured her, Iris by order of Paula had endeavoured to fathom this man's motives.