severity. At the close of three months these little oft-renewed

loans mounted up to a sum of ten thousand francs. The captain still

laughed his hearty-sounding laugh, but he was growing visibly

thinner, and sometimes he seemed absent-minded, and a shade of

suffering would pass over his face. But one look from Nana's eyes

would transfigure him in a sort of sensual ecstasy. She had a very

coaxing way with him and would intoxicate him with furtive kisses

and yield herself to him in sudden fits of self-abandonment, which