would come ruining noisily down. Moreover, no one was ignorant of

the fact that Nana was the devouring siren who had finished him off,

who had been the last to attack his crumbling fortunes and to sweep

up what remained of them. Stories were told of wild whims and

fancies, of gold scattered to the four winds, of a visit to Baden-

Baden, where she had not left him enough to pay the hotel bill, of a

handful of diamonds cast on the fire during an evening of

drunkenness in order to see whether they would burn like coal.