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smiling. "And very intelligent too."
    "Except in the matter of managing France," the duke responded, lowering his voice as he said it. Then he smiled. "Allow me to introduce my American cousin, Beauford d'Aubert. He prefers to be called Beau."
    Madame Renée held out her hand to the slightly younger man. "You are most welcome to Chez Renée, monsieur. Has your cousin explained my rules to you?"
    "He has, madame , and I vow I shall keep each and every one of them," Beau answered her.
    Renée laughed, but then she said, "See that you do, mon brave."
    "I understand there is a new girl with you," the duke began.
    "Not yet, monseigneur," Renée replied quietly.
    "You know I always enjoy the first taste, Renée," the duke said as quietly. "Where did you find her?"
    "She is my niece, César, and until today, quite respectable as I once was. You know of our family's history."
    "Of course! The infant you saved during the Terror, eh?"
    "The same. She has been recently widowed, and her English stepson had cheated her out of everything. I will not bore you with the sad tale. She has a child to support, and no other means of earning her bread. I am not happy with this turn of events, but I can, unfortunately, see no alternative for her. I would gladly support her and her little girl, but she is proud like all de Thierrys, and today I realized how much like her papa she is. She will take nothing more from me, and has chosen this path herself."
    "Why is she not here then tonight?" the duke asked.
    "Because she is woefully ignorant of sexual matters except as a wife," Renée responded. "She will need some tutoring before I can introduce her into our midst. She is very beautiful, and will be quite desired, I assure you."
    "I shall look forward to the day," he said. Then he added, "Do not wait too long, Renée, for her unskilled ways may very well prove an aphrodisiac to some of us."
    "You are always so greedy for a new experience," Madame chided the Duc de Caraville, tapping his arm with her fan. "Remember, passion is best cultivated slowly, my dear César. Now run along, and show your handsome young cousin about. I see Josie already has her eye on him. She might forgo your company for that of your cousin's."
    "Or perhaps she will entertain us both," the duke said with a wicked smile.
    Renée laughed, and then turned to greet some of her other guests. Tonight she had a full dozen of them. There was Count Marco Cirello, who usually made his home in Rome. Married, the father of seven, and well known at the Vatican, he came to Paris for his pleasures and his privacy. The twin Persian brothers, Prince Kansbar and Prince Kurush, identical in every way, were already playing cards with the Irish horse breeder, Lord Kieran Darby, and the great Bavarian landowner, Baron Ernst Amalhardt. Leonie had seated herself at the pianoforte, and began to play. She was immediately joined by one of Napoleon's retired generals, Vachel Egide, and Michel Georges, a wealthy merchant from Nantes. Fabian de Eustache, a well-known banker, had now engaged the young American in eager conversation, Renée noted. He was always looking for a new and profitable business opportunity. The duke had joined Josie and Prince Dmitri Romanov on a striped sofa.
    Looking about, Renée could see it was going to be a quiet evening. She smiled as Josie arose from the settee and, taking Prince Dmitri by the hand, departed the room. Then she frowned. With so many gentlemen tonight, and only one young lady currently available— sacrebleu! What was the matter with her that she hadn't realized before now that she really did need another girl. Possibly even more than one.
    "Where is your niece?" César d'Aubert asked as he came to her side.
    "Asleep by now, I suspect," she answered him.
    "I want to see her," the duke said.
    "César! I have said she is not ready by any means to greet visitors. I am not being coy. She nursed her husband devotedly in his last years, and then to have her home and