_Monsieur Duval knelt down_ 89 _Monsieur Duval, closing one eye, playfully poked him in the ribs_ 93 _The door opened, admitting Fontaine and two remarkably pretty girls_ 97 _The young people talked gaily together while sipping champagne_ 100 _“A hundred and thirty thousand francs!” cried Maurepas_ 108 _Marsac turned a double handspring over the sofa_ 110 _Marsac, seizing her around the waist, began to waltz furiously_ 113 _They crept softly out of their apartment_ 115 _As it brought Delphine’s golden head quite close to Marsac’s brown one, she consented willingly_ 121 _“Oh, Madame Fleury!” cried Marsac, actually hanging his head_ 129 _Madame Fleury pressed a handkerchief to her eyes_ 132 _Marsac could scarcely restrain a shout of joy_ 137 _Madame Fleury began eagerly searching on the ground for the letter_ 139 _“Here,” Marsac said, tearing the paper, “is half of it for you, Fontaine, and dear Claire”_ 143 _Monsieur Duval’s victoria, with Madame Fleury in it_ 145 _Fontaine, sunk in a deep armchair, was a picture of misery_ 149 _He was a little old man clutching a rusty travelling-bag in his trembling hands_ 151 _“Let me assist you,” said Fontaine, trying to take the old bag_ 159 _Marsac and Delphine were now left alone_ 161 _Madame Fleury stood petrified for a moment_ 175 _“The only thing for you to do now is to trust me,” said Fontaine_ 177 _In walked one of the most weazened, cadaverous little men who ever stepped_ 180 _Madame Fleury rushed out, dragging the unhappy Fleury after her_ 188 _Marsac with his arm around Delphine’s waist_ 194 THE SPRIGHTLY ROMANCE OF MARSAC The Sprightly Romance of Marsac[1] [1] Dramatic and all other rights reserved. [Illustration] Chapter I Madame Schmid, round and red, with the spotless lappets of her washerwoman’s cap flapping angrily, was plainly in a rage; and the three loud whacks she gave at the garret door of 17 Rue Montignal caused two young gentlemen on the other side of the door to quake visibly. One of them, Fontaine, ran incontinently into a closet and hid, while Marsac, the other, after a ghastly pretence of a joke about Madame Schmid’s whacks sounding like the three given at the Comédie Française before the curtain goes up, stalked with dignity to a corridor door. But, Madame Schmid bouncing in suddenly, Marsac as suddenly whisked out of sight. [Illustration]