_feuilleton_, was the most perfect statuary of which a room could boast,--illumined, as I saw her, by the gay beams that entered at the loftily-arched window, broken only by the flickering of the vine-leaves that clustered the curiously-latticed panes without. She resembled in kind a Nymph or Aphrodite just bursting from the sea. Madame de St. Cyr received me with _empressement_, and, so doing, closed the door of this shrine. We spoke of various things,--of the court, the theatre, the weather, the world,--skating lightly round the slender edges of her secret, till finally she invited me to lunch with her in the garden. Here, on a rustic table, stood wine and a few delicacies,--while, by extending a hand, we could grasp the hanging pears and nectarines, still warm to the lip and luscious with sunshine, as we disputed possession with the envious wasp who had established a priority of claim. "It is to be hoped," I said, sipping the _Haut-Brion_, whose fine and brittle smack contrasted rarely with the delicious juiciness of the fruit, "that you have laid in a supply of this treasure that neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, before parting with that little gem in the Gironde." "Ah? You know, then, that I have sold it?" "Yes," I replied. "I have the pleasure of Mr. Ulster's acquaintance." "He arranged the terms for me," she said, with restraint,--adding, "I could almost wish now that it had not been." This was probably true; for the sum which she hoped to receive from Ulster for standing sponsor to his jewel was possibly equal to the price of her vineyard. "It was indispensable at the time, this sale; I thought best to hazard it on one more season.--If, after such advantages, Delphine will not marry, why--it remains to retire into the country and end our days with the barbarians!" she continued, shrugging her shoulders; "I have a house there." "But you will not be obliged to throw us all into despair by such a step now," I replied. She looked quickly, as if to see how nearly I had approached her citadel,--then, finding in my face no expression but a complimentary one, "No," she said, "I hope that my affairs have brightened a little. One never knows what is in store." Before long I had assured myself that Mme. de St. Cyr was not a party to the theft, but had merely been hired by Ulster, who, discovering the state of her affairs, had not, therefore, revealed his own,--and this without in the least implying any knowledge on my part of the transaction. Ulster must have seen the necessity of leaving the business in the hands of a competent person, and Mme. de St. Cyr's financial talent was patent. There were few ladies in Paris who would have rejected the opportunity. Of these things I felt a tolerable certainty. "We throng with foreigners," said Madame, archly, as I reached this point. "Diplomates, too. The Baron Stahl arrives in a day." "I have heard," I responded. "You are acquainted?"