“Why?”
“I’ll tell you that presently, Mme. Giry. Just now we should like to know for what extraordinary reason you have given yourself body and soul, to this ghost … Mme. Giry’s friendship and devotion are not to be bought for five francs or ten francs.”
“That’s true enough. … And I can tell you the reason, sir. There’s no disgrace about it … on the contrary.”
“We’re quite sure of that, Mme. Giry!”
“Well, it’s like this … only the ghost doesn’t like me to talk about his business.”
“Indeed?” sneered Richard.
“But this is a matter that concerns myself alone. … Well, it was in Box Five one evening, I found a letter addressed to myself, a sort of note written in red ink. I needn’t read the letter to you, sir; I know it by heart, and I shall never forget it if I live to be a hundred!”
And Mme. Giry, drawing herself up, recited the letter with touching eloquence:
Madam: Mlle. Ménétrier, leader of the ballet, became Marquise de Cussy. Mlle. Marie Taglioni, a dancer, became Comtesse Gilbert des Voisins. La Sota, a dancer, married a brother of the King of Spain. Lola Montes, a dancer, became the morganatic wife of King Louis of Bavaria and was created Countess of Landsfeld.