Just now I should welcome anything in the world which meant adventure, which could teach me to forget." "But monsieur need not seek the suicide," Louis said.

"There are hundreds of adventures to be had without that." I shrugged my shoulders.
"If mademoiselle should send me the note," I said, "surely it would not be gallant of me to refuse to accept it." "There are other ways of seeking adventures," Louis said, "than by ending one's days in the Seine." The girl by this time had finished her note and rolled it up.

She looked behind her to the other end of the room, where only Bartot's broad back was visible.

Then she raised her eyes to mine,--turquoise blue as the color of her gown,--and very faintly but very deliberately she smiled.

I was not in the least in love with her.