ONE:One evening he was at the Opera ball, then frequented by people in good society. Masked or not, they were equally known to M. d��Espinchal, who as he walked through the rooms saw a man whom he actually did not know, wandering about with distracted looks. He went up to him, asking if he could be of any use, and was told by the perplexed stranger that he had just arrived from Orl��ans with his wife, who had insisted on coming to the Opera ball, that he had lost her in the crowd, and that she did not know the name of the h?tel or street where they were. ��Calm yourself,�� said M. d��Espinchal, ��Madame, your wife is sitting by the second window in the foyer. I will take you to her,�� which he did. The husband overwhelmed him with thanks and asked how he could possibly have known her.Why, in that case, T��r��zia should have allowed them to interfere with her appears perplexing, as they would, of course, have had no authority to do so. M. La Mothe proceeded to say that he and a certain M. Edouard de C����, both of whom were in love with her, accompanied them to Bagn��res de Bigorre. There he and Edouard de C���� quarrelled and fought a duel, in which he, M. La Mothe, was wounded; whereupon T��r��zia, touched by his danger and returning his love for her, remained to nurse him, while his rival departed; and informing her uncle and brother that she declined any further interference on their part, dismissed them. That the uncle returned to his bank in Bayonne, and [290] the brother, with Edouard de C����, to the army; that Cabarrus was killed the following year; and that, after some time, M. La Mothe and T��r��zia were separated by circumstances, he having to rejoin his regiment, while she remained at Bordeaux. [91] But however the principles she had adopted may have relaxed her ideas of morality, they never, as will be seen during the history of her life, interfered with the courage, generosity, and kindness of heart which formed so conspicuous a part of her character, and which so often met with such odious ingratitude.