Arm linked in arm, the four friends made their way to Taillefer’s mansion, and there, in a large room brilliantly set out, they were welcomed by all the younger men of note in Paris.  For some time Raphael felt ill at ease.  He was surprised by the natural manner in which his wish had suddenly been accomplished.  He took the magic skin out of his pocket, and looked at it.  Magic?  What man could believe nowadays in magic?  But, nevertheless, he marvelled at the accidents of human life.

II—­A Fight Against Fate

Although the banquet which he had desired was now set before him, Raphael was still very moody.  Deaf to the loud, wild merriment of his companions, he thought sadly of the misfortune which had driven him that morning to the brink of the grave.  Many noblemen find it difficult to exist in Paris on an income of several thousand pounds.  The young Marquis de Valentin had lived there very happily on L12 a year.  In 1826, his father, who had lost his wealth and lands in the Revolution, had died, leaving him L40.  Taking a garret in the Rue des Cordiers, he had set about earning his living with his pen, and for three years he had laboured at a great work on “The Theory of the Will.”  He never went into society, but found a pleasant distraction from his studies in educating the daughter of his landlady.

Pauline Gaudin was a charming and beautiful child; her father, a baron of the empire, and an officer in the Grand Army, had been taken prisoner by the Russians in 1812, and never heard of since.  Raphael was moved by the grace and innocence of the lovely human flower, that grew from a bud into an opening blossom under his care.  But as he was too poor to marry her, he never made love to her.

Then, in January, 1830, he met the Countess Foedora, a brilliant, wealthy woman of society, widowed at the age of thirty, and eager to shine and astonish and captivate.  For her sake, Raphael had put aside his scholarly studies and engaged in money-making hack-work.  But after keeping him dangling about her for some months, she had cast him off, and in his misery he had resolved to end his life.  Now he had got the magic skin.  What if it were true what the strange old man had said?  Should he wish to win the heart of Foedora?  No!  She was a woman without a heart.  He would have nothing to do with women.  Still, this skin!

“Measure it!  Measure it!” he cried, flinging it down on the table.

“Measure what?” said Emile.  “Has Taillefer’s wine got into your head already?”

Raphael told them of the curiosity shop.

“That can be easily tested,” said Emile, taking the skin and drawing its outline on a napkin.  “Now wish, and see if it shrinks.”

“I wish for six million pounds!” said Raphael.

“Hurrah!” said Emile.  “And while you’re about it make us all millionaires.”

Taillefer’s notary, Cardot, who had been gazing at Raphael during the dinner, walked across the room to him.