Paz arrived duly and passed about an hour
there once a week, during which time he sat in the salon, and never
went into Malaga's boudoir nor into her bedroom, in spite of the
clever manoeuvring of the Chapuzots and Malaga to get him there. The
count would ask questions as to the small events of Marguerite's life,
and each time that he came he left two gold pieces of forty francs
each on the mantel-piece.
"He looks as if he didn't care to be here," said Madame Chapuzot.
"Yes," said Malaga, "the man's as cold as an icicle."
"But he's a good fellow all the same," cried Chapuzot, who was happy
in a new suit of clothes made of blue cloth, in which he looked like
the servant of some minister.
The sum which Paz deposited weekly on the mantel-piece, joined to
Malaga's meagre salary, gave her the means of sumptuous living
compared with her former poverty. Wonderful stories went the rounds of
the Circus about Malaga's good-luck. Her vanity increased the six
thousand francs which Paz had spent on her furniture to sixty
thousand. According to the clowns and the supers, Malaga was
squandering money; and she now appeared at the Circus wearing burnous
and shawls and elegant scarfs. The Pole, it was agreed on all sides,
was the best sort of man a circus-rider had ever encountered, not
fault-finding nor jealous, and willing to let Malaga do just what she
liked.
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