"No, really," she was laughing, "it is not so in England. I quite admit that men make it a general accusation against us, as a sex, that we are ill-natured, unfair, pitiless, in judging one another. They say that when women get together, at every word a reputation dies; they say that as a savage proves his heroism by displaying in grim array the torn scalps of his enemies, so a woman thinks she proves her virtue by exhibiting the mangled reputations of her friends; they say--But there is no end to the witty impertinences and fag-ends of rhymes from Simonides to Pope, which they fling at us on this subject I have never heard men so eloquently satirical as when treating with utter scorn the idea that a woman can possibly elevate herself in the eyes of one of their sex by degrading, or suffering to be degraded, one of her own; and in their censure they are right--quite right; but wrong--quite wrong in attributing this, our worst propensity, to ill-nature and jealousy. Ignorance is the main cause: ignorance of ourselves and others." He laughed at her philosophy, and blew a cloud of smoke towards the ceiling. "I think, my dear madame, that you must be full of whims, _comme disent les Anglais_. A pretty woman like yourself always is," he said in his marked foreign accent. "And why not?" she inquired, for he had suddenly changed the channel of their conversation, and she much feared that he now intended to give her a _rechauffe_ of his sentimental nonsense. "Because you brought your friend to the duchess's last night. I saw him. _C'etait assez_." "You are jealous--eh?" "Not in the least, I assure you," he answered quite coolly. "Only it is pretty folly on madame's part--that is all." "Why folly? _O la belle idee_!" "Madame's _amities_ are of course friendships," he said, raising his dark eyebrows. "Nevertheless, she should be warned." "Of what?" "Of Monsieur the Under-Secretary," he replied, still regarding her quite calmly with his dark eyes. "For her own reputation madame should no longer be seen with him." She glanced at her guest quickly, for she was used to men's jealousies. Yet surely this scion of an Imperial House could not be jealous! "And for what reason, pray?" she asked, puzzled. "Because of a regrettable circumstance," he answered mysteriously. "Because of a forthcoming exposure which will be startling. In a certain _Chancellerie_ in a certain capital of Europe there reposes a document which must shortly be made public property." "Well, and what then?" she asked, not yet grasping his meaning. "Its publication will bring disgrace and ruin upon madame's friend," he answered simply. "That is why I warn you not to be seen again in his company." "What do you mean?" she cried, starting up with sudden _hauteur_. "You tell me this, in order to turn me from him."