"We are getting outside of the question," said the Duchess, striking her bell. "Moreover, is not the assistance of these ladies necessary?"
"Indispensable," the secretary replied. "Their assistance will greatly increase the receipts."
"What sum shall we decide upon as the price of admission?" asked Madame de Lisieux.
"Twenty francs," said Desvanneaux. "We have a thousand tickets printed already, and, if the ladies present wish to solicit subscriptions, each has before her the wherewithal to inscribe appropriate notes of appeal."
"To be drawn upon at sight," said the Comtesse de Lisieux, taking a pen.
"A tax on vanity, I should call it."
She wrote rapidly, and then read aloud:
"MY DEAR BARON:
"Your proverbial generosity justifies my new appeal. You will accept, I am sure, the ten tickets which I enclose, when you know that your confreres, the Messieurs Axenstein, have taken double that number."
"And here," said the Vicomtesse de Nointel, "is a tax on gallantry." And she read aloud: