We have been four months at Paris without anything to disturb the happy

life which we have led, secure from all suspicions. Nothing can be more

original or sweeter than this love concealed from all prying eyes, the

exquisite pleasures of which you can imagine. Kondjé, delighted with her

triumphs, plays everywhere her part of enchantress.

My romance is, however, complicated by a circumstance which I must at

once relate to you.

You will not have forgotten that my aunt had seen Kondjé-Gul at

Baroness de Villeneuve's party, and that she conceived a great liking

for her. Their friendship having been cemented during several parties at

the commodore's, where they met each other, my aunt very naturally

invited Madame Murrah and her daughter to dinner one evening. She is

fond of young people, as you know; and Suzannah, Maud, and Kondjé-Gul

formed such a charming trio, that she soon insisted on their coming to

dine with her every Thursday. Indeed, Kondjé has frequently met Anna

Campbell there, for the latter has leave out from her convent twice a

month.

The consequence was, we became in time so completely involved in

intimate relations together, that it would have been imprudent to make

any break in them: moreover, Kondjé-Gul was so very happy and so proud

of this intimacy which allied her still more closely with me! All of

them were charmed with her; even my uncle, who, delighted at the

opportunity of conversing with her in Turkish, treated her with quite a

display of gallantry.

Among the constant visitors at our house, I should have mentioned Count

Daniel Kiusko, a fabulously rich young Slav, the owner of platinum mines

in the Krapacks mountains, and in the forests of Bessarabia. This being

his first visit to Paris, I found myself selected to act as his guide or

bear-leader, and to introduce him to our gay world. It was a simple

enough task, for that matter, since I had hardly anything to do but to

present him in society.

He was tall, slenderly built, and a fine specimen of the young boyard,

with that determined expression of countenance which suggests a habit of

acting and being obeyed as the feudal lord. In less than a week, with

the most lofty recklessness, he had thrown away half a million francs in

the club at baccarat, and his other doings are all in the same vein.

With such a start, you may be sure he has taken the world by storm, so

that his friendship is sought after as a prize. A successful duel which

he fought with a Brazilian made his reputation as a skilful swordsman.




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