“Weep! She danced--she adores dancing, it seems. By the way, I need not tell you that I have nothing left of the funds you advanced me. The postilion and my men to pay--the hire of the post-chaise and the house--and all the people I bribed. In fact, you owe me fifteen hundred francs.” “Fifteen hundred francs!” exclaimed Chérubin, as he walked to his desk; “it costs a lot to abduct a woman!” “To whom are you telling that? to me, who have abducted a hundred perhaps, in the course of my life? Indeed it was in that way that I spent a large part of my fortune; but it is a princely pleasure all the same, in which everybody cannot indulge.” Chérubin handed Daréna the sum that he required, and said: “I am ready.” “Very good; send out for a cab; you will understand that we can’t go to your _petite maison_ with your tilbury and your groom. You should never take your servants into the secret of a mysterious intrigue like this; such people are too fond of talking.” “You are right.--Holà! Jasmin!” The old servant appeared, still with a long face, and cast an angry glance at Daréna. Chérubin ordered him to send for a cab. “Will not monsieur take his cabriolet?” queried Jasmin, with an expression of surprise. “Evidently not!” cried Daréna, laughing at Jasmin’s face; “as your master orders a cab, he doesn’t propose to take his cabriolet. Off with you, old ruin, and make haste, if you possibly can.” “Old ruin!” muttered Jasmin, as he left the room. “Still another insult--and I must swallow it all! I am very much afraid that this ne’er-do-well will ruin my young master. I should like to know why he makes him take a cab, when he has his own tilbury and cabriolet.” However, Jasmin did his errand; the cab was summoned. Chérubin went downstairs with Daréna, and they both entered the vehicle, which Jasmin looked after, with a far from pleased expression, as it drove away. Daréna told the driver where to take them. After quite a long drive they stopped in front of a shabby house outside Barrière de la Chopinette, on the outer boulevards. “Here we are!” said Daréna, jumping out of the cab. Chérubin looked at the house, which had but one floor above the ground floor, with two windows on the front. “This isn’t a very handsome house!” he exclaimed. “It is very fine inside,” replied Daréna. “The principal thing is that it’s isolated; the devil himself would be in it if the husband should unearth you here! My dear fellow, when you run off with a woman, you must take the greatest precautions. And after all, what do you care about the house? It’s the woman that you come here to see. For my part, I should have been perfectly happy in a shepherd’s hut, with the object of my love.--Send the cab away; I am going to ring.” Chérubin made haste to pay the cab-driver, who returned to his box and drove away.