“What do you say, madame?” “There is your commission and your marriage contract.” And she threw the fan to him. It was the one which the chevalier had already twice picked up. The little cupids of Boucher sported on the parchment of the gilded mother-of-pearl masterpiece. There was no longer any doubt; it was the fan of Madame de Pompadour. “Heavens! Marquise, is it possible?” “Very possible,” said she, raising the little piece of black veil on her chin. “I know, madame, how to answer--” “It is not necessary. You are a loyal gentleman, and we shall see each other again, for we are to be in the same house. The King has placed you in the ‘cornette blanche.’ Remember that for a petitioner there is no greater eloquence than to know how to be silent if need be--” “And forgive us,” added she, laughing as she ran away, “if before bestowing upon you our niece’s hand, we thought it expedient to find out your true worth.”[9] FOOTNOTES: [7] Two sous per livre from the tenth of the revenue. [8] This does not refer to the present theatre, built by Louis XV, or rather by Madame de Pompadour, but only completed in 1769 and inaugurated in 1770, for the marriage of the Duc de Berri (Louis XVI) with Marie Antoinette. The “hall” in question was a sort of portable theatre, that was moved into this or that gallery or apartment, after the manner in vogue in the days of Louis XIV. [9] Madame d’Estrades not long after was disgraced, together with M. d’Argenson, for having conspired, this time seriously, against Madame de Pompadour. THE MUMMY’S FOOT BY THÉOPHILE GAUTIER [Illustration] _Théophile Gautier, great colorist and globe-trotter, was born at Tarbes, in 1811, and died at Neuilly in 1872. He began life as a painter, then turned to poetry, and finally adopted prose for the expression of his ideas, writing some three hundred volumes in all of poetry, romances, parodies, critiques, histories, tales, etc._ _After being presented to Victor Hugo, he became an enthusiastic apostle of Romanticism. He lived in an atmosphere of Oriental splendor noticeable in “The Mummy’s Foot.” His style is unusually rich and sensuous, with a refined fancy finely chiseled. He has exerted a considerable influence on the present generation of writers._ _Though Gautier has expressed few original ideas and few opinions, and is discursive, he is, as his friend Baudelaire said of him, “an unimpeachable poet, a finished magician in French letters.”_ [Illustration] THE MUMMY’S FOOT BY THÉOPHILE GAUTIER Translated by Lafcadio Hearn.