[Footnote 5:  About L500, nominally.]

He shrugged his shoulders, went to his strong box and gave her the money, whereupon she nodded, and giving him her hand, she said:  “You are always kind, and as long as I have you, I am not afraid; but if I were to lose you, I should be the most unhappy woman in the world.”  “You always have the same fears; but I shall never leave you; it would be impossible for me to separate from you,” the Count exclaimed.  “And if you die?” she interrupted him hastily.  “If I die?” the Count said, with a peculiar smile.  “I have provided for you in that eventuality also.”  “Do you mean to say” ... she stammered, flushed, and her large, lovely eyes rested on her lover with an indescribable expression in them.  He, however, opened a drawer in his writing-table, and took out a document, which he gave her.  It was his will.  She opened it with almost indecent haste, and when she saw the amount—­thirty thousand florins—­she grew pale to her very lips.

It was a moment in which the germs of a crime were sown in her breast, but one of those crimes which cannot be touched by the Criminal Code.  A few days after she had paid her visit to the Count, she herself received one from the Italian.  In the course of conversation he took a jewel case out of his breast pocket and asked her opinion of the ornaments, as she was well-known for her taste in such matters, telling her at the same time, that it was intended as a present for an actress, with whom he was on intimate terms.—­“It is a magnificent set!” she said, as she looked at it.  “You have made an excellent selection.”  Then she suddenly became absorbed in thought, while her nostrils began to quiver, and that touch of cold cruelty played on her lips.

“Do you think that the lady for whom this ornament is intended will be pleased with it?” the Italian asked.  “Certainly,” she replied; “I myself would give a great deal to have it.”  “Then may I venture to offer it to you?” the Italian said.

She blushed, but did not refuse it, but the same evening she rushed into her lover’s room in a state of the greatest excitement.  “I am beside myself,” she stammered; “I have been most deeply insulted.”  “By whom?” the Count asked, excitedly.  “By your friend, who has dared to send me some jewelry to-day.  I suppose he looks upon me as a lost woman; perhaps I am already looked upon as belonging to the demi-monde, and this I owe to you, to you alone, and to my mad love for you, to which I have sacrificed my honor and everything.  Everything!” She threw herself down and sobbed, and would not be pacified until the Count gave her his word of honor that he would set aside every consideration for his friend, and obtain satisfaction for her at any price.  He met the Italian the same evening at a card party and questioned him.

“I did not, in the first place, send the lady the jewelry, but I gave it to her myself, not, however, until she had asked me to do so.”  “That is a shameful lie!” the Count shouted, furiously.  Unfortunately, there were others present, and his friend took the matter seriously, so the next morning he sent his seconds to the Count.