"The little cheat has sold herself out without a word to us.

Well done, you little angel!" Thereupon, the actress was borne in triumph into the dining-room where most of the party still remained.

The lawyer and du Tillet had departed.
That evening Florine had an ovation at the theatre; the story of her sacrifice had circulated among the audience.
"I'd rather be applauded for my talent," said her rival in the green-room.
"A natural desire in an actress who has never been applauded at all," remarked Florine.
During the evening Florine's maid installed her in Raoul's apartment in the Passage Sandrie.

Raoul himself was to encamp in the house where the office of the new journal was established.
Such was the rival of the innocent Madame de Vandenesse.

Raoul was the connecting link between the actress and the countess,--a knot severed by a duchess in the days of Louis XV.